Which course captain Sanji?
by Neko11
Summary: A silly argument between the captain and the cook of the strawhat crew leads to a bet: the two switch places, thinking their job is much more difficult! But soon Sanji and Luffy realize they both have been wrong, but are too stubborn to admit. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Woot, another new story! Seems like I've got new muse again, yay! :D So, this is going to be a short story, but I hope you like it :)**

**Rated T because of the swearing.**

**Enjoy! =3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, it all belongs to genius Oda-Sensei!**

**YXYXXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 1 - You think your job is easy?**

It was a calm and sunny mid-day on the well-known ship of the famous strawhat pirates. The sea was calm and no cloud was to be seen in the sky. A perfect day.

Nami was reading the newspaper she had bought yesterday (although she found it way too expensive, but still she needed to know what was going on in the world), Chopper was busy with listening to Usopp's adventure story of a giant octopus he caught with his bare hands and Zoro was sitting against the mast, for once not up to train or watch out for enemies, and rolled his eyes at the sniper's silly tale. He couldn't believe how naive the little reindeer was and decided to wander off in his dreams instead of listening to 'great Usopp-sama's' story.

Brook was sitting on the swing on deck and played a few songs on his violin, enjoying the peaceful atmsphere around them, and watched the seagulls above them.

Franky was somewhere downstairs and thought of some new design for a new weapon, and scribbled some of his ideas down on a paper, taking a few gulps of his cola every now and then.

The other female of the strawhat crew, Robin, was sitting in the room with the huge fish tank, drinking a hot coffee Sanji had brought her a few minutes ago and red some historian book. And the cook himself? Well, Sanji was _really _busy... but not only with cooking.

"Pweaaase Sanjiii..." Luffy whined, sitting on one of the chairs around the table with his face lying down on the table. That way he looked like a half-starved boy who'd been in desert for two weeks without anything to eat or drink. Sanji was sure Luffy tried to look that way, so that maybe he would get something to eat from the cook.

But Sanji turned his back to the captain of the ship and ignored the whining. He had to prepare dinner and there was absolutely no time for sympathie! Besides, he knew very well that Luffy could survive a long time without food if he only wanted to. Apparently though, he didn't want to.

"C'mooon, just a little meat..I'm starving!" he continued and looked up, his chin resting on the table as his eyes pierced through Sanji's back. The cook flinched slightly upon feeling the pleading stare on him, but didn't stop to cook.

"No. Just shut up and wait, dinner's ready soon." he said, biting the end of his cigarette to not throw something at Luffy. Sometimes, he really got on Sanji's nerves!

"Sanjii I'm so hungry! Just a little! It's too long until dinner!" Luffy complained and sat back, his arms folding over his chest and he pouted like a little child. He was hungry and he wanted something to eat! Now!

Sanji sighed, getting annoyed as he rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a child, Luffy! Look, just wait a little, I have to prepare dinner and if you keep disturbing me then-"

"Just give me a bit meat and I'm satisfied!" Luffy grumbled as he could Sanji off in mid-sentence, sounding not amused. He was getting a little annoyed as well, which surprised both Sanji and Luffy himself. Normally Luffy would whine around like a dog and then go out to pout, but now he seemed to be more stubborn than ever! But Sanji recovered quickly and shot around, eyes narrowing at his captain.

"Luffy! Stop complaining! I gave you some cookies a few minutes ago and you promised to not come in until dinner's ready, and now you're getting on my nerves again! Just get out already!" he barked and inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself.

Luffy blinked at the harsh tone before he himself narrowed his eyes, too. "Why do you always have to be so bad-tempered? You don't have to shout, I can perfectly hear you!" he grumbled back, tired of being shouted at by Sanji everytime he asked for some food. The cook snorted and clenched his fists.

"Yes, but you don't seem to understand, that's why I shout! Now: out of MY KITCHEN!" he shouted, frustrated of the whole situation. He was having enough problems with cooking the damned huge dinner, he had to feed eight hungry mouths including himself, couldn't Luffy see that?

Luffy stood up, fists clenched tightly, too. "Don't order me around, damn! I just want some food because I'm hungry and if you don't give me some then I'll take some myself!" he shouted back and stepped towards the refrigerator. He was pretty pissed-off by now, very unusual for him, and ignored the warning grumble of Sanji.

"You WON'T do that..." Sanji grumbled dangerously, eye never leaving the strawhat-teen. But said teen chose to ingore the annoyed cook and was about to open the refrigerator, just as Sanji roughly pressed his hand against it's door.

"Stop that right now, you idiot! Go out!" the young blond cried, furious by now. He knew this was going too far for just a little fight, it was leadig to a huge argument! But at the moment he was too pissed off and didn't see were this would end. Nor did he really care now, if he had to be honest. Sanji just wanted to cook in silence without his whining captain! He glared at the younger one who didn't hesitate to glare right back.

Something was just wrong today. Ususally this would never have gone so far, Luffy would have given up eventually and Sanji could have continued to cook in peace! But now things seemed to escalate and the atmosphere in the kitchen began to tense.

"What is your damn problem!" Luffy barked madly, tone serious. Sanji had to hold himself back to not kick the idiot. Normally he already would have, but today Luffy seemed too serious and Sanji knew he would loose if Luffy tried to fight serious. The cook inwardly cursed himself for being too weak.

"Luffy, damn it all! What the hell is wrong with you? I need to cook and I don't have time for you, so just FUCK OFF!" he yelled and threw the cigarette out of his mouth to emphasize his furiousness. Silence settled in and for a moment the two only glared at each other. Luffy was at least as pissed as Sanji, and he twitched slightly at the insult.

Just as Luffy wanted to shout something back, the meat in the one pot suddenly began to burn and they both turned around in horror. As if that hadn't been enough, the two spotted the cigarette Sanji had thrown away in his annoyance before dangerously near the gas. Luffy's and Sanji's eyes widened. Uh-oh...

Outside the kitchen, the rest of the crew was wondering what was going on inside. They all had known Luffy was begging for something to eat again and quietly waited for Sanji to kick him out, but somehow the two of them had began to really argue over something so pointless. But the worst part were the crew really started to seriously worry was when the loud 'BOOM' sounded.

"What the hell? Did just something explode?" Zoro shot up after being woken by the loud explosion and looked around. Nami's eyes widened and she and the others on deck jumped to their feet and dashed towards the kitchen.

Franky and Robin came from downstairs, confusion written all over their faces as they followed the others to the kitchen. "What's happening?" Franky asked, sniffling in the air, " something's burning!" he added, his own eyes widened at the thought of the things he had to repair now.

"Sanji! Luffy!" Chopper shouted, also sniffling the smoke that was coming from the kitchen.

"Look what you've done! You shitty rubber idiot!" inside the kitchen however, the argument went on. Both Sanji and Luffy looked a little burnt but they were alive.

Luffy seemed a little shocked and stuttered unsurely. "Uh.. ehm.. I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to.."

"You didn't mean to? You're a catastrophe in a kitchen! I'm surprised you even know what a pot is!" Sanji shouted. He couldn't take it anymore, now not only food was wasted, no, also half of his kitchen was destroyed thanks to his stupid capitan! How worse could things go?

Now all regret and shock was washed away in an instant, and Luffy went back to his pissed-off mode. " What? You think just because you are a cook you are better or something?" he snapped angrily.

"I didn't say that, but I don't think you have any idea how hard my job is!" Sanji answered in the same tone. He stood up and brushed some of the dust off his trousers, face pale as he saw everyone was watching in horror. Luffy ignored the rest of the crew.

"Oh yes? And you think MY job is so easy to handle, eh?" Luffy shouted at his cook who turned back.

"Of course! I bet I would even be a BETTER captain than you, you moron! All you have to do is to give an order every now and then!" Sanji said madly, not thinking about what he was saying. He'd had enough of Luffy's stupid behaviour!

Nami sensed where this was leading and decided to stop the two idiots. "Shut up, both of you! This is not the time for your stupid arguments!" she yelled but was coldly ignored.

Luffy pulled Sanji's collar towards him, standing now face to face with the blonde. "FINE! I bet I would be a much better cook than YOU! It's not that hard to cook three meals a day!

"Hey you two, calm down!" Zoro said, trying to stop what was about to happen, but it was already too late.

"That's IT!" A vein appeared on Sanji's forehead, "We switch places! Let's see who's better! But don't you dare and try to waste food, understand?" Sanji barked, holding out a hand.

Luffy bit his lip in his anger and took the hand, they both shook it. "Then it's decided!" he claimed, looking as determined as the cook.

"W-what? Are you nuts?" Usopp stuttered, blinking in shock. Luffy... as their _cook_? And Sanji.. as their captain?

"Now stop this shit, would ya?" Nami yelled madly and hit both over the head as hard as she could. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Luffy, it's Zoro's part to fight with Sanji, what has gotten into you?"

But she didn't get an answer as Chopper, full in doctor mode, immediately rushed towards the two and ordered into his room to make a body check up although nobody was seriously injured.

"What on earth happened here..?" Franky asked more himself as he sighed, scratching his head. He eyed the two who had caused all this and rose an eyebrow.

The others left the kitchen to give the cyborg some space to repair.

"Hey Luffy, what was going on? Just how the heck could things escalate like that?.. Are you two serious with... switching places?" Usopp asked unsurely as Luffy later was sitting at the figure head of the Sunny. He seemed deep in thoughts, chewing on his bottom lip.

He slowly turned around to look at his friend and let a sigh escape his lips. "Well, I was a little tense today, I admit..." he apologized. "I had a bad dream last night and got easily pissed off today, I shouldn't have let it come so far.." he trailed off, watching the ocean again.

Usopp smiled. "Things happen, it's okay for nakama to argue, right?" he remembered the time he and Luffy had a huge fight but pushed the thoughts aside. "Just go and apologize, then things will be okay again." he added, still smiling.

"No." Luffy said deadly serious and the sniper's smile fell. "I may have been an idiot, but still Sanji and me made a bet. I won't lose to him! And I won't be the first to give in! Plus, this is the perfect opportunity to show Sanji that my job isn't as easy as he thinks!" he said, adding: " After this all is over, I will apologize. But until then, don't call me captain." he said, and stood up and walked away. Usopp only stared after his friend in shock, at a loss of words.

"Y-you can't be serious!" Usopp said more to himself as Luffy was too far away to hear him.

"We are" a voice suddenly said and made the poor long-nosed teen jump in shock.

"S-Sanji!" he said, his hand above his bumping heart. "Where do you come from? Have you heard what we-"

"Every single word. And for once, I have to agree with Luffy." Sanji said, stepping away from the mast where he'd been leaning on to smoke. "We shook hands, it's like a promise that can't be broken so easily. Both of us were serious about the bet, and now there is no going back."

Usopp groaned, looking down. "This can't be true! Just because of a little argument!" He said and went silent, not wanting to start another arguement with Sanji now.

"Don't be like this, you baka." Sanji snorted. "Thanks to this I can finally prove Luffy how tough and stressing it can be to be a cook. Especially the cook of _this _crew!" He almost laughed at that. "And maybe he won't be so damn annoying, whining all the time about wanting to be fed."

"And you think Luffy's job is so easy?" Usopp asked.

"Sure. Don't worry about it, Usopp."

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Hmm I realized Luffy would react completely different than he did, but thought everyone has a bad day and is a little bad-tempered, so I guess Luffy had a day like this... Sorry for the OOCness. Hope you enjoyed reading :) And I apologize for the grammatical mistakes! Please feel free to correct me so that maybe I can improve in future chapters! :)**

**Reviews are always greatly appreciated, and remember, the more reviews I get the faster I will update! **

**Until next time, ja ne! :D**


	2. Dinner á la Luffy

**Hey guys! I'm so damn happy about the reviews I got, really! x) **

**Scioneeris: Thank you! Lol maybe you're right, he gets annoyed by Luffy A LOT after all^-^ Thanks for the nice review! :D**

**DarkAndStormyNight: Yeah they're great! And it's a pity there aren't more SaxLu stories here...! Really, just one? Yay! Thanks :D **

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**You guys really made my day, thanks again! :DD**

**And as promised, here's a quick update for you! Enjoy reading :)**

**Disclaimer: One Piece is still not mine! You happy now? *pouts***

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter two - Dinner á la Luffy**

_**'**__Of course! I bet I would even be a BETTER captain than you, you moron! All you have to do is to give an order every now and then!' _The words still echoed in his mind_. _Maybe he had overreacted back then...

Sanji sighed. Whatever, now it was too late. It had happened and now both he and Luffy had to face the consequences. He tried to forget about that stupid argument and lit another cigarette. The now-captain was leaning against the railing, gazing at the sky that began to turn purple as the sun slowly set. It was getting dark which meant that dinner should be ready soon. _Should_. He sighed again, wondering how Luffy was doing meanwhile. Then he chuckled. Probably not so good. Maybe this whole stupid bet would be over sooner than he'd thought! Luffy wouldn't make it too long as their new cook!

With that thought on his mind, he silently smiled to himself, wondering what he should do with all this spare time he got now. He turned around and blew some smoke out, completely relaxed.

Sanji was right in one point, Luffy really wasn't doing so well. He was standing before the repaired (thanks to Franky!) stove, glaring at the meat in the pot as if it was responsible for what had happened. He didn't like this. This whole stupid situation! He hated it when his nakama argued, he hated it even more if _he _argued with his nakama!

He should have gone out of the kitchen like Sanji said! But now it's too late, there's no turning back and like hell he would give up before Sanji even noticed how hard the captain's job could be! But then, Luffy didn't want to give up either way! No way!

The ex-captain and now-cook chewed on his bottom lip again. It was a bad habit and he always tried to not do that, but since the argument Luffy had other worries. He wasn't really sure how to cook, neither _what _to cook for dinner! He had no idea. Sure Luffy could burn some meat over a fire if someone put him into a jungle and he was able to survive somehow, but this was completely different from what he had experienced!

He couldn't just throw some unseasoned meat onto the table for dinner! Luffy wanted to show Sanji that _everyone _could cook, even he himself! But he was in deep shit. Now what could he do? He definitely needed to surprise Sanji and the rest of his nakama, but how?

"Dang IT!" he shouted, hitting the counter and causing another crack in it. He quickly lifted his hand again, all anger forgotten at once as he thought about how angry Franky would be if he saw this. Rubbing his hand, he decided to look for some cookbooks in the cupboards above the stove. He needed some recipes!

Much to his dismay he found none. Luffy frowned deeply, at a loss of what to do. And what now? Maybe he could ask Robin? No, that would be cheating. Looking around, he went over to the refrigerator. Maybe there were some deep-frozen vegetables or so. Luffy opened it and looked for them. Negative.

The black-haired teen was about to just slam the refrigerator shut, when he spotted something orange in the edge. Oh, what was that? Carrots! Luffy's face brightened at first but it vanished in an instant.

That wasn't enough for a nice dinner, safe a dinner for a whole crew! He was a bit frustrated and slowly began to understand what kind of burden it was to be the cook. But his argument with Sanji came to his mind again and all the things Sanji had said, consequently he got angry again, taking all the carrots he could find and lay them onto the table.

What dish could you cook with carrots? Hmmm... drifting off in thoughts, he thought back at his childhood when he and Ace were living in their own 'countries', everyone trying to care for themselves. That was fun but somewhat lonely. He had been seven back then, and of course he'd wanted to prove Ace that he wasn't a little weakling and crybaby! Luffy had wanted to show he could survive on his own and didn't need help or sympathie! And maybe he had felt like he needed to earn some...respect from Ace.

That's exactly how he felt now, not wanting to be called a baka who couldn't even cook, wanted a little respect. He shook his head, pushing these thoughts aside. That wouldn't help him now.

But Luffy found it much more difficult to simply forget about that and began to think about his past with Ace again. All of sudden, something his big brother had always told him came to his mind.

...Ace had always told him how important important a well-balanced feeding was. And he remembered him saying that carrots were pretty healthy, they were said to improve the eyesight. If that was true then it was a good start already!

Sanji knew if something was good or not, so he won't complain about healthy carrots! Luffy thought to himself and snickered slightly, rubbing his hands as if he just had thought of a brilliant plan.

Then, suddenly, something clicked in his mind. "Oh yes! That's right!" he exclaimed to himself, lifting a hand while smiling brightly. "I got it!"

Outside the kitchen, Sanji had been sitting with his back leaned at the door, both hands tightly clasped over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Yes, he had been listening to what Luffy was doing and found it hilarious! When Luffy had hit the counter so hard it cracked and sweared loudly, Sanji had had to bite his lip to not burst out laughing!

'Yeah, now Luffy has to admit that it's difficult to be a cook!' Sanji thought and had been smiling triumphantly the whole time but said smile fell abprubtly as Luffy loudly said "I got it!" For the new cook, it was a great sign. For Sanji though, it was a catastrophe. What if Luffy wasn't so... bad at cooking? What if his ex-captain had a brilliant idea? After all, Luffy's head was so empty there was plently enough space for a sudden inspiration, if that even made sense...

Another awful thought struck his mind. Oh horrors!

What if his Nami-swan and Robin-chwan found Luffy the _better _cook? Oh good gracious! Sanji's eyes widened as he thought about it. That would be his end! And then Luffy would win the bet and he.. it would be so pathetic and emberrassing for Sanji!

But then... Sanji had been cooking for the most time of his life, so there was no way Luffy could cook better than him, hell, Sanji even doubted Luffy could cook a simple chocolate pudding without help! Luffy wasn't as stupid as many people may thought, sure he knew Sanji was listening and just said "I got it!" to scare the blonde, right?

Sanji was deep in thoughts, thinking of every single possibility and nagging on his fingernails as he feared he could lose. That would be more than terrible!

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was sitting downstairs in the room with the huge fish tank(*) and discussed a few things.

"How did this all even start?" Franky asked, putting his bottle of cola down onto the table.

Nami sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm not quite sure, but it's somewhat surprising for Luffy to start a fight. And even Sanji wouldn't have gone this far normally! Just what is wrong with these two today? They're such morons!" she scoffed, not pleased about the fact that the dinner probably would be pretty bad because Luffy was cooking.

"Well, Luffy told me he'd had a bad night, and Sanji... he probably just had enough of the daily whining of Luffy. No wonder he exploded today though." Usopp murmured and caused Chopper to gasp.

"HE exploded? I thought it was the stove that exploded! Oh gosh, call a doc-" Chopper stated but was cut off as two hands appeared and gently covered the little reindeer's mouth.

"I-I didn't mean it that way!" Usopp gaped and quickly explained, his hands waving in defence. Brook laughed at that and got whacked over the head by Nami.

Suddenly a deep voice sounded from the edge of the room and got everyone's attention. "I wonder were this will lead to." Zoro meant more to himself, but everyone had caught it. There was a long silence as no one had an answer to that.

"I think.. everything's going to be fine. Sooner or later. You know how they are, they can be stubborn but then, they're nakama, right?" Brook said, nipping on his cup of hot tea. Chopper nodded. "That's right, and it's normal for nakama to argue sometimes, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Usopp said while smiling a bit as he remembered the fight with Luffy. "They will apologize eventually. Don't worry about it."

A small smile curled onto Robin's lips but she said nothing. Nami frowned. "You're probably right, but until then, I feel that I'll get a huge headache from all this shit." she said and continued to rub her already aching temples.

**In the kitchen: **

"Ha! There you are!" The black haired teen suddenly said and it sounded like a battle cry, making Sanji outside behind the door jump in shock. " Stupid potatoes, hiding all the time!" Luffy continued to curse. Finally he found what he had been searching for: A huge pot of raw potatoes! Now he would prove Sanji how well he could cook! Ha ha ha!

Luffy put the still frozen meat back into the refrigerator. Today the crew would get something else to eat. The he quickly checked the clock: He had exactly 40 minutes til dinner. He'd sworn himself that his dinner would be ready just when Sanji's dinner was usually ready. His crew would get a perfect dinner, just like they're used to! So he had to start now, quick quick!

He put a huge pot full of water onto the stove and turned on the heat. So. What else did he need to do? Did he have to put something else into the pot? Luffy thought hard about it. Some salt? Luffy searched the whole kitchen until he found a small vessel filled with the white mineral and poured a bit into the pot.

"Sooo..." he murmured concentrated, took a second to think of what to do next and then rushed over to where the potatoes and carrots were still waiting to be pelt. It took the strawhat teen a while before he finally found the peeler in a drawer. He smiled to himself as he sat down and began with his work until no potato and not a single carrot was left to peel.

Whistling a song to himself, Luffy cut all the potatoes into small pieces and threw them into the pot with the already warm water. Then he did the same with the carrots with the only difference that he put them into a different, smaller pot with salty water, turning the heat on. Then he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, pretty satisfied with his work until now.

Luffy checked the carrots and the potatoes every now and then, deciding to put some more salt into them, and then sat down and waited, quietly staring at the pots to bring them to boil quicker.

A short glance at the clock. He had 30 more minutes. Good. he nodded to himself and began to hum another song. Maybe he had been wrong earlier, it wasn't so bad to be the ship's cook! And okay, it was hard work but the captain's job was much more difficult! He decided and nodded, pretty determined.

Outside, Sanji was having a hard time, his fingernails too short to bite them off now. The young blonde had heard every single move Luffy made, all the cutting and peeling, the pots he'd put onto the stove, the song he continued to hum. Luffy seemed to deal with the cook's job very well - it was rather creepy. Sanji NEVER had thought that! Just who the hell told him how to cook?

Sanji, litting his 6th cigarette that evening, tried to calm his nerves. He should wait until dinner's ready, it probably tasted pretty shitty after all!

Exactly 35 minutes later Luffy called for dinner and sounded, much to Sanji's horror, really cheerful. And then the way Luffy acted as he put the two pots onto the dinner table, so happy and normal, was giving Sanji the rest. Luffy acted as if he had had the time of his life!

The ex-cook sat down at the table, looking utterly exhausted by now. Nami snorted and pulled Sanji's still burning cigarette out of his mouth and threw it away.

"No smoking during the meals, Sanji-kun" she ordered and Sanji nodded while he was smiling brightly upon seeing his beautiful Nami-san.

Then the moment of the truth was nearing. Their former captain handed his nakama their filled plates and sat down, looking around and waiting for someone to test his food.

By now, which cheered Sanji up a little, the black-haired future pirateking looked really nervous although he tried as best as he could to hide it. But Sanji knew better, he looked right through Luffy's fake smile. Sanji himself had often experienced similar situations as he'd cooked a special meal and was hoping the crew would like it, especially Nami and Robin of course.

Looking down onto his own plate, Sanji firstly inspected the food, took his time to analyse it and came to the following result: Mashed potatoes with pieces of carrots. Nice. Optically: Looks eatable. Olfactory: Smells eatable. Flavorfully:... actually, not so bad. Sanji slowly munched, desperately trying to find something to criticize.

"Not bad for your first meal to cook. Though you should have seasoned it more." Sanji said, not looking up at all. But sadly, the blonde hadn't even heard his own voice as suddenly Chopper and Usopp both exclaimed how yummy the meal was, making Sanji inwardly curse.

"You think so?" Luffy asked full of hope, a bright smile was to be seen upon his face.

"Yes, you did a very good job, new cook-san," Robin commented, smiling softly. Luffy smiled back and thanked her, laughing.

"Yeah, though I'm pretty surprised you can cook that well!" Usopp admitted, enjoying his meal a lot. The rest of the crew, safe for Sanji, agreed.

"Luffy, since when do you know how to peel potatoes?" Nami wanted to know as she chuckled a little, positively surprised. Though this dinner wasn't as nearly as good as Sanji's usual meals, but the redhead didn't want to upset Luffy right now.

Luffy only sat there, grinning from ear to ear. "Ne hee! Secret! I won't tell" he said and Sanji nearly exploded. 'Secret my ass!' he thought, quickly stuffing another fork of potatoe mash into his mouth to not shout at Luffy.

After the meal, the crew went out of the kitchen and left Luffy alone to do the dishes. He was quite pleased how well it all had worked out. His crew had praised him, and even Sanji had seemed to like his food! What a great start! He laughed as he imaginaded Sanji's mad face right now. But then, Luffy knew his mains problems weren't solved yet. It had only just begun. And actually, potato mash was the only thing Luffy knew how to cook properly!

Thanks to Ace! Hmm maybe he should have asked his big brother about a few other meals than just potato mash...But well!

_"What's this, Ace?" a seven-years-old Luffy asked curiously, peering over his brother's shoulder to see what he was doing. _

_"This, Luffy, is called a potato. And this is a carrot." Ace patiently explained, knowing his little brother prefered meat and consequently had no idea about vegetables and other plants._

_"Oh." the younger one mouthed, sounding already bored. _

_Ace sighed. "Luffy, you have to listen closely, I think it wouldn't be too bad if you learned a bit about cooking - so that you don't only eat meat." _

_Luffy pouted. "What's wrong with eating meat?" _

_"Nothing, but you see, carrots and potatoes are very good too, and very healthy. C'mon, it won't hurt." Ace turned around and showed his 'I'm-your-big-bro-so-I'll-teach-you-good-things' smile and Luffy knew he had no chance to escape now. He only moaned and rolled his eyes, deciding it wasn't worth the trouble to escape. "Fine!" _

Good thing Ace had taught him that! Luffy grinned at the memory, continuing with cleaning the plates and pots. Luffy already began to hate this kind of work, it was damn boring!

**Meanwhile, somewhere else on Thousand Sunny:**

'Okay Luffy,' Sanji thought while clenching his teeth as he was downstairs in his hammock, a bit frustrated, 'you won the first round! But just because you know how to cook a simple potato mash with carrots doesn't mean you are a cook! Wonder how you'll like it to get up at six o'clock to prepare breakfast...'

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**(*) Does this room even have a name?^^ If yes, please tell me because stupid me has no idea!^^**

**Same as in the last chapter, if you spot any grammar/spelling mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me! ;)**

**Yummy, I love potato mash! :D Well hope you enjoyed the second chapter! ;D Please don't forget to review! I will update as soon as I get a few reviews, the third chapter is almost complete *evil laugh* **

**However *coughs* , thanks a lot for reading and hopefully..**

**Until next time =D**


	3. Go for it Marimo! Captain's orders

**Woot woot! So many reviews, thanks a lot guys! I tried to update as fast as possible for you guys, but recently my stupid internet doesn't work properly, sadly :( That, plus my computer is not working the way I want it to work -.- So I would have updated earlier but it wasn't possible, sorry! **

**BlueWolf65: Hey there! Thank you for reviewing twice, I'm happy to hear you liked the first two chapters! :D Yeah, Ace saved the day^^**

**Magic Jac: That's right!^^ Hmm well, you'll see soon enough :D Thanks, it's always great for an author to hear that! =D Yeah it's really yummy isn't it?^^**

**DarkAndStormyNight: Well, at least potato mash xD Haha that's cool x3 Today's Sanji's turn! Yay *cheers* thanks for looking and telling me, it motivates me! :D**

**secrethearts: Yeah I know what you mean and you're absolutely right with that! In fact, I actually had the 31st chapter of the other story written but it got deleted so I had to start typing it up all again -.- It's getting on my nerves because I couldn't save it somewhere before it got deleted, sorry but that's why it's taking me so long to update! But I'm already working on the new chappie again, so don't worry^-^**

**WindGoddess Rune: Yup! You will see this chapter ;)**

**ruby890: First of all, thank you as well for reviewing for both chapters! And thanks again, I'm really glad you liked the first and the second chapter! :D **

**xxShinxx: Thanks! You have no idea how happy you made me with that, it's always great to hear that the readers like your story! :D**

**Thank you all so much, it's thanks to you that I enjoy writing even more! pls keep reviewing! It really makes my day y'know! =3**

**As in the chapters before, sorry for typing errors, grammar or spelling mistakes, it's always welcomed if you tell me were I did wrong! =)**

**Ok, now on with the show ;D Enjoy! =3**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine.**

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**Chapter 3 - Go for it Marimo! Captain's orders!**

Morning came fast and soon the sun rose, it's warm rays gently shining through the small window of the boy's room. The sun rays softly touched Sanji's face and due to the fact that he was used to stand up early in the morning every day he just woke up. His inner alarm bell rang loudly and Sanji almost lazily opened his tired eyes. Yesterday night he just couldn't go to sleep, he had been laying in his hammock thinking about Luffy and how his shitty potato mash had ruined Sanji's hopes to win the bet. But the jury was still out on it!

Grumbling in half-sleep, he stood up and wearly changed his clothes, rubbing his eyes before he made sure he woke no one and then turned to go upstairs and prepare the breakfast. Hmm... what should he cook? Maybe a light and healthy one, he could cut some fruits and make a salate, or curd would be nice too, and cocoa/coffee to drink. Sanji thought about what to do for breakfast, scratching his head as he yawned tiredly. But then, Luffy would hang around in the kitchen, whining ALL THE DAY if he only got curd for breakfast. Sanji propably should broil one or two pigs extra for the captain.

'...'

Suddenly something made 'dong' in his mind and he froze in his movements, an irritated expression upon his face. Then he slowly turned around, only to see the black-haired teen with the strawhat still lying in his hammock, sleeping like a rock and snoring like a bear during winter sleep.

A few minutes of waiting passed as if Sanji wanted to make sure Luffy was really sleeping. Then the blonde motionless lifted his hand and just wacked himself all over the face, expression not changing before he finally broke into a huge smirk.

'That's right!' he thought, grinning like a madman, ' _I _am the captain!... And Luffy is the cook! He he he! He's still sleeping! That's my advantage!'

Sanji quickly went out of the room and silently closed the door, grinning all the way as he leaned with his back onto the door and slid to the floor, rubbing his hands again. He had a look on his face that would make the devil himself jealous...- or more afraid - of Sanji.

The young man with the strange eye-brow could still hear the loud snores of his _former _captain. Luffy didn't sound like he would be waking up soon! Sanji grinned and the shook his head, sighing at the fact he'd wanted to prepare breakfast for _Luffy_! Sanji had just been so into the cook-role and was too tired to realize their little bet! But luckily it's not too late, and this way he even could enjoy Luffy's failure!

The ex-cook of the ship stood up and went upstairs, litting a cigarette on his way. He silently slid into the kitchen, careful to not get Zoro's attention who happened to be on watch. Inside the kitchen, Sanji smirked to himself. That would be much fun until Luffy woke up!

**~A few hours later~**

First thing Luffy noticed was that he was hungry. _Very _hungry, as his stomach complained louder. Luffy was a little annoyed at the sudden sound and grumbled back, not wanted to be disturbed by his amazing dream of meat, being the pirate king, oh and..meat!

Usopp, who was about to get up and changed his clothes, stopped and rose a brow at the black-haired teen and his obvious fight with his own stomach.

Usopp snorted, wondering if everything was back to normal with Sanji in the kitchen, cooking while their captain slept peacefully until his belly woke him up. Throwing a glance at the watch the long-nosed teen knew it was only a matter of seconds now when Luffy would wake up and dash into the kitchen to scream for food.

_If _ Luffy noticed that he was cook now and should have been up a long time ago to prepare breakfast...

The sniper counted, his eyes not leaving the sleeping and grumbling form of Luffy. '5...4...3...2...1-' Luffy's eyes opened and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Usopp smirked, congratulating himself for the timing and wondered if he should open the door.

Then Luffy blinked, his mouth formed an 'o' as his stomach grumbled loudly. Within two milliseconds Luffy had put a new red vest on and raced out of the room, not bothering to open the door as he went right through it.

Usopp frowned, he _should _have opened it before! He knew Franky wouldn't like this, but then shrugged. Just as he had known, Luffy woke up ever morning because of the same reason, his stomach, and it was every day at the same time, around nine o'clock. Sometimes, Luffy was just too predictable.

Meanwhile, Luffy had reached the kitchen. Or more he was in front of it and just wanted to open the door as he realized his fault. He'd slept long. Too long! He should have gone up into the kitchen to cook at six o'clock or so, and now it was what? NINE O'CLOCK! Luffy's eyes widened and he gasped. No! NO! He'd completely forgotten about that!

Stopping to count, Luffy came to the result he'd woken three hours too late. Dang. As if that wasn't enough already, Luffy had absolutely no idea what he should cook now! Or how! Or what to say to the crew!

'Wait!' he thought, 'are they ALL in there, waiting for me? Or is Sanji cooking their breakfast? Or worse, Sanji has already cooked it and is eating with the others, laughing about him and how he lost the bet! ARGH!'

Bibbering that he had lost the bet, Luffy bit his lip and opened the door, already inhaling to apologize for oversleeping for so long. Then he stopped, making a dumb expression. The kitchen was completely...empty! None of his nakama were here!

"Are they still sleeping?" he wondered aloud, scratching his head as a huge red question mark appeared above his head. He narrowed his eyes, putting a finger on his chin. Now that he thought of it... he had only seen a shadow with a looong nose, propably Usopp, and not looked around in the men's cabin! So actually, it wasn't impossible that the rest of the crew was still sleeping! Seems like even Sanji overslept! Hah!

As new courage and determination to win began to build up inside him, Luffy's lip formed a smile and he looked pretty confident to beat the bloody enemy, in his case the breakfast. He quickly made his way to the kitchen, remembering that Usopp was up and would propably come in soon to ask when breakfast's ready, so he had to hurry!

It couldn't be so difficult to cook a simple breakfast, he had managed to cook a nice dinner just the day before! This one would be rather easy!

The smile never leaving his lips, he began to put a few pots onto the stove, turning the heat on, humming a song to himself. The weather was really nice outside, today would be a warm and sunny day. Great, just like his current mood ! But Sanji wouldn't be too cheerful today, not if he saw how well Luffy could cope with being the cook.

_'It's a stressful job, a difficult one and you hardly get any break.. Always have to think of something that would satisfy the crew's appetite.' _

Yeah, Sanji once had said that to him as he'd annoyed the cook for the fifth time back then. It had been a few weeks ago, but still Sanji's voice rang inside of Luffy's head over and over again. The black-haired future pirate king had wondered how it could be that hard to _cook_. After all, it was Sanji's hobby, he loved to cook, so why was it so difficult? Plus, the blonde knew thousands of different meals, so surely he wouldn't have to think much about what to cook, right?

Still, Luffy hadn't found an answer to that. Okay, yesterday evening was not as easy as he'd imagined, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the blonde had described. Luffy hadn't been stressed at all. Maybe he'd been in trouble for a moment as he didn't know what to cook but only for a moment. Being the cook of the ship was easy! Now he only had to bring Sanji to admit that, that was all!

Luffy stood in front of the stove and watched the pots, being totally in his thoughts about how he would beat Sanji easily, he didn't realize there was actually nothing in the pots to be cooked! Heat rose and Luffy snapped back to reality as he noticed his problem. Oh. He should put something into the pots before turning the heat on. Yeah, he was pretty deep in thoughts!

'Maan, he's just too stupid! My poor kitchen and my poor pots!... why doesn't he just give up and leave the cooking to a professional cook like... me?' Sanji thought and chewed at his cigarette that didn't even burn anymore. Frowning, Sanji followed every of Luffy's movements in the kitchen and suddenly Sanji almost had to laugh at the sight.

Luffy looked like a damn hysterical mother who wanted to stop her crying child but doesn't know how. Yeah the comparison between the stressed mum and Luffy -the former captain was talking to himself by the way- fitted very well and Sanji silently congratulated himself for finding a good one.

"Damn it all! Now what should I do? What could I cook? Damn! Same problem as yesterday, why haven't I thought of something during the night?" Luffy opened every drawer he could find, hoping there would be something he could cook in it. Luffy had a deja vú as he tried as best he could to think of something that would fit for breakfast. Maybe he shouldn't have judged too early over Sanji. He shook his head, no time for useless guilty feelings now!

Then he had an idea. "If I was Sanji, then what would I cook now?" he said, nodding to himself as he thought it was a brilliant way to get an idea for a breakfast. Meanwhile the silent observer, Sanji himself, covered his mouth with both hands to not make a sound as he wanted to burst out into laughers. What kind of idea was this anyways?

Luffy thought a lot, very hard. And soon his face turned red and Sanji wasn't sure if he should jump from his hiding place to do a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or just wait until Luffy collapsed to call for Chopper. Wait, if he suffocated then Luffy's face would turn blue, wouldn't it?

As the two morons were in the kitchen, each of them thinking about some useless crap, the rest of the crew made their way upstairs. In truth, they all had known Luffy had overslept and wanted to give him a chance as they knew Luffy would be too freaked out if he lost the bet. So they all, safe for Zoro and Sanji, had pretended to be asleep in their rooms, even Nami.

Besides, this was getting interesting to watch, so the crew wanted to see how things worked out for a bit longer. And they eventually wanted to see how well Sanji was doing as a captain!

They all stood in front of the kitchen door, chuckling or rolling their eyes as they heard of Luffy's intelligent plan to get an idea for breakfast.

"I guess we're too early. Let's wait a little more until captain-san is ready." Robin suggested.

"Too early? It's past nine now and I'm hungry...but okay, let's wait a little." Nami sighed and turned to sit on the ground. She didn't want to stand in front of the door until Luffy would slam it open into her face to call for breakfast. Getting why their navigator moved aside a little, the others did the same and sat down, a few meters away from the door. Just to be safe.

The archaeologist crossed her arms and closed her eyes, watching what Luffy was doing in the kitchen.

"By the way, has anyone an idea where Sanji is? I saw him getting up early in the morning, is he... inside?" Franky wanted to know and looked with a questioning look at Robin who smiled in response.

"I'm surprised captain-san hasn't seen him yet. Sanji is 'hiding'." she chuckled, shaking her head slightly at how immature the whole thing was.

"Really? Why is he doing that?" Brook asked, trying to peek at Nami's pantis but she _persuaded _him that this was a bad idea.

'I just wanted to know how Luffy could cook, and not watch him ruining my kitchen! And these pots were extremely expensive!' Sanji grumbled silently at his former captain's actions. Where the hell was this leading to? Nothing good would came out of this, Sanji knew, or more _feared_, that.

He ducked slightly to get a better view of what Luffy was doing now.

"Ah! I remember eating ham and eggs during breakfast!" Luffy loudly exclaimed and lifted his finger at the memory, his face brightened up. He had no idea where he ate that, was it on this ship or at home many years ago? He didn't know. Nor did he know who cooked it, maybe it was Makino, who knows. But then, that didn't matter! As long as he knew what to do now!

Ooookay, what did he need for ham and eggs? Hmmm... the black haired teen with the strawhat stopped again to think. Sanji only rolled his eyes and Robin smiled softly. Luffy remembered her of a little child sometimes.

Suddenly the new cook spun around and narrowed his eyes. Sanji just managed to duck back into his hiding place to not be seen by him and nearly hit his head. Robin made a soft sound of surprise but didn't stop watching with her third eye in the kitchen.

"Weird..." Luffy said as he turned back to the refrigerator, " I could have sworn someone was just there... I feel like someone's watching me." he murmured and grabbed for the ham and the eggs. Hopefully there was enough for everyone.

Sanji panted, his eyes wide in shock and surprise. Wow, that had been close! Luffy may seem like a child sometimes, well most of the time, but he had a friggin' good instinct and could feel the other's presence. That was... creepy, but okay. Sanji just had to be more careful, that was all.

"So..." Luffy began again, scratching his head in confusing as he held a few eggs in his hand. "What do I have to do with them now?"

**_LaTeR_**

"Robin, when's breakfast ready? It's almost ten o'clock!" Chopper asked, his little stomach grumbling loudly. Robin sighed as she shook her head, knowing Sanji was currently fighting with himself as he watched Luffy 'cooking'.

"I think it's ready soon, doctor-san. Don't worry" she spoke in a soft way, her third eye in the kitchen quickly disappearing.

"It better be, because otherwise I'm going to fish me the breakfast - with Luffy as the bait!" Nami grumbled, not amused as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was not very patient, she never had been, and now there she was, waiting for the stupid breakfast since seven o'clock in the morning! The navigator was very pissed about that but try to control her anger.

Zoro, who'd happened to hear that, moved to stand behind Franky, slowly and without attracting her attention,. Not that he was scared or anything but you don't want to be the one standing next to Nami when she exploded. And Franky, the perfect shield, seemed to not even notice.

"GUYS! BREAKFAST'S READY!" Bam. So much for 'perfect shield'. Luffy had slammed the poor door open and Zoro, the unlucky fellow, had happened to stand right in front of it without realizing his mistake. Ouch. Luffy seemed rather energetic today.

The rest of the crew smiled and made their way into the kitchen as quick as possible. They just weren't used to get breakfast so late as Sanji had always served it at nine o'clock. One hour earlier.

"Zoro, what the heck are you doing there? Quit sleeping and come in, breakfast is ready you moron." Nami shook her head as she passed the almost unconscious green-haired man at the floor.

"Stupid witch." he just groaned and wearily made it to the table. Luffy would pay for that later.

"Have you been waiting long?" Luffy asked as he took the 'eggs' onto the plates, his crew sitting down at the table.

Franky immediately waved his hands, shaking his head. " Nonono, absolutely not. Perfect timing, strawhat br- eh?" Franky stopped abprubtly as he looked under the table between his legs, " what on earth are you doing under the table, Sanji-bro?" he asked, a dumbstruck on his face.

Sanji's face was bright red in anger as he feared Luffy would count one and one together and realize he had watched him cooking the whole time!

But much to his luck Luffy did not realize, after all the strawhat boy was horrible in doing calculations, and just continued with serving the plates. He had to admit he himself was pretty damn hungry, although he'd eaten lots of things the whole time during cooking.

"Eehm.. I don't want to be obstrutive or so.. but what the heck did you cook?" Nami asked with a look of horror as she inspected the 'food' on her plate.

Zoro frowned as well, staring at his own plate. "If you could call that cook." he said more to himself.

Luffy sat down and looked around in confusion. "Eh? Is something wrong?"

Sanji only nodded, sitting down at his seat while looking at his food as if it would jump from his plate and run away every moment.

First the crew didn't know what to say to not hurt his feelings but Zoro just spoke up. "The breakfast looks like shit." he simply stated and crossed his arms before his chest. Nami shot an angry glare at the swordsman and immediately Zoro realized his mistake and mumbled a 'sorry'.

Luffy seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face and then nodded slowly. "Yeah uhm, I didn't know exactly how to make ham and eggs so I just put eggs into the pot and-"

Nami immediately interrupted him. "Wait wait wait. So you didn't put any oil into the pot? No wonder these 'eggs' are black. And this.." she started, poking the other black thing besides it, ".. is the ham, am I right?"

Luffy nodded, smiling as he stuffed all the burnt breakfast into his mouth. "Yup!" he exclaimed happily, glad someone recognized it. So it wasn't so bad after all, right? And as he realized, it didn't taste bad either!

And soon Luffy began stealing food from everyone's plates, seeming to enjoy his 'breakfast' a lot. The only difference now was that no one defended his or her plate as none of the crew wanted to really taste it in the first place. Luffy didn't notice luckily.

Sanji clenched his teeth, watching as the 'cook' ate like he'd been on a diet for weeks. Actually, that wasn't the problem, Luffy always did that, it was nothing new. But the thing that annoyed the crap out of Sanji was first, that Nami and Robin, his two angels, didn't have a delicious breakfast now. And second the fact that he'd watched Luffy ruining the breakfast!

It had been terrible! This stupid rubber idiot! How could he do something like that? Almost as if wasting food! Sanji grumbled, a pissed look as he glared at the former captain.

Luffy didn't know how to cook after all. Yesterday evening was just... luck. Yeah, Luffy was just lucky that his big brother had been so wise and explained him how to do a potato mash. But you need to be better, you couldn't call yourself a cook just because you knew how to peel potatoes and carrots! Luffy had to admit that now!

But even after the 'breakfast', as everyone went out of the kitchen again, hungry as they were, Luffy said nothing. Sanji glared at him one more time before he, too made his way out of the kitchen, totally annoyed by the event.

But actually, Luffy had realized he'd cooked really shitty but just couldn't find the courage to say it. Or had he been to proud to admit it in front of Sanji?

'Oh just too great! Luffy will probably do the same for lunch! And for dinner! And what about the small snacks?" Sanji lit another cigarette and threw the empty package of them carelessly into the ocean, too pissed off to bother with that right now.

"Why does he have to be so damn stubborn?" Making his way to the deck, Sanji sighed as he sat down onto the swing. Oh yeah, he forgot. He didn't have to do anything right now. No cooking, no mixing some drinks for his two beauties, no cleaning the dishes.

That was Luffy's job, not his. Sanji suddenly couldn't help but wonder what the rubber boy did the whole day. It must be pretty damn boring! Sanji stared up in the sky, not wanting to play something childish with Usopp and Chopper. Bothering Nami was never a good idea, although it sounded tempting, listening to Brook's violine playing was pretty boring too. Robin was reading and Franky was repairing the door of the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, there was Luffy and propably cleaned the plates. Besides, he was still somewhat angry at the rubber teen. And the last one was Zoro. Oh gosh, Zoro.

Zoro was the last one on earth to whom Sanji would go if he was bored. The young man with the blond hair let a soft sigh escape his lips. It was such a beautiful day and he had nothing to do with all the spare time he got! It was a shame. All of sudden, Sanji thought that it maybe wouldn't be too bad to go to Zoro.

'The lazy moron probably is somewhere around, sleeping. Or trying to train his brain out. ' Sanji imagined the green-haired man hopping around like an easter bunny, a nice fluffly plush on his butt with one huge weight on his back. The former cook chuckled at that, the thought of it was hilarious.

He decided to go and search for the green-haired swordsman. After all, he was captain now and Zoro _his _first mate. The spinach-head had to be loyal to his captain.

Soon the blond found him, sleeping. Now what should he do? Sanji felt like teasing the other, that was why he had searched for Zoro in the first place. But what should h- what was that? Sanji frowned before a huge smirk was to be seen upon his face. Yeah, all of sudden he felt like he needed to exclaim his first order as the captain of the Thousand Sunny!

He kicked Zoro into the ribs. "Oi, mildew-head, wake up and listen to your captain." he said, trying to sound cool and look calm. Zoro quickly cracked his eye open and bristled with anger, slowly standing up as he recognized Sanji standing above him.

"Mildew-head? Oi!" he first complained in a deep voice, glaring at Sanji. "What the fuck do you want, milksop?"

Sanji ignored the insult and just snorted. "You see this, marimo?" He pointed at the mast. "You may be stupid but you're not blind, are you?"

Zoro's eyes narrowed and he frowned. "What the heck do you mean?" he growled impatiently, not understanding what the blonde was getting at. Sanji rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed in an annoyed tone.

"There! You see how dirty the mast is?" he said.

Now it was Zoro's turn to roll his eyes and he shrugged. "So what? I don't care, now fuck off and lemme sleep."

"No no no. It's not that easy, my friend. As the captain of this ship I have to watch over it and I'm responsibel if it's scrubby - like this." He said and tried to sound arrogant to annoy Zoro as much as possible, before he added, "So I ask you to clean it - oh, and I guess the rest of the ship needs a little cleaning, too."

"WHAT? Are you stupid? If you're responsibel then clean it yourself, damn it! Besides, it looks perfectly fine to me!" Zoro scoffed angrily, not liking the way Sanji talked to him. This stupid dart-board!

Now Sanji smirked as if he'd known this would happen. "C'mon marimo, just do it! It's only a little job I ask you to do and oh! Guess what, it's captain's orders!" Sanji said. Yeah, that felt good. Sanji could practically feel Zoro's blood boiling.

"You dirty little..." the other started between clenched teeth but Sanji ignored him again.

"What's that? I thought you were more the loyal type? So just go for it, Marimo! It's nothing for a man like you."

Zoro angrily stomped at the ground, turning away to search for some brooms he could use to clean the shitty deck and the damned mast. And Sanji, Sanji was sitting on the figure's head and enjoyed the soft breeze in his hair and face, suddenly liking it very much to be the captain. It had lots of advantages, and at the moment Sanji couldn't think of any disadvantages! What a great day it was!

Suddenly, Nami's voice disturbed him from his thoughts as she opened her door. "Uhm San- ,ehm, _Captain _Sanji!" she corrected herself while rolling with her eyes. "There's an island!"

Sanji's heart eye blinked. "Eh? Oh, I can see it already! Course straight ahead" He ordered, smiling. Yeah, being the captain was just as easy as he had imagined.

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**Soo, I really hope you liked this chapter! =D Let me know if you did please! Reviews are greatly appreciated! :3**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heey guys! :D Thanks again for the great reviews! And I'm terribly sorry for NOT UPDATING earlier, really! The thing is: I had this chapter written at Monday already but somehow I was not able to add a chapter or publish a new story! Everytime I tried it said: 'Fanfiction error' -.- Luckily it works again (many thanks to !), so here it is. I'm really sorry and I hope this won't happen again!**

**ruby890: I'm glad you did^^ Well, who knows? Nope, absolutely not xD**

**xxShinxx: He is but he's not perfect either.. so let's see how he will do as the captain^^ Thank you! **

**DarkAndStormyNight: It is xD Oh yes! Aah dang! You're right! Stupid me!^^ Thanks for informing me, next time I'll keep an eye at the details! ;)**

**Scioneeris: Lol yeah he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time^^ Thanks! That's great ;) Yeah, you will see soon!^^**

**WindGoddess Rune: Well that's at least how I imagine Sanji would react xD Yups, sounds like a fun idea x3**

**Magic Jac: You got that right!^^ And again, you're right. I was a bit surprised no one else said it was suspicious but well :3 **

**Anon: ^^Aw don't be too stern with him, its not that he's used to it^^ But maybe you're right, we'll see ;) **

**Thanks to you all again, seriously you guys rock! :D**

**I'm sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes. Feel free to correct me!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece at all! Sadly though. **

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**Chapter 4 - Cold wind gust**

Sanji was grinning from ear to ear. He was still on Luffy's favourite seat, the figure's head of Sunny, standing with his left hand on his waist. Sanji's right hand was above his eyes, shielding the sun from his eyes as he took a close look at the peaceful looking island before him. That way Sanji looked like a seven-years-old who was pretending to be a pirate, making Robin chuckle at the sight.

Then suddenly, Sanji turned around and jumped down, getting an idea of what he could - or more should - do before they reached the island. Robin observed him quietly from her chair on the sunny deck, the smile never leaving her lips. She had an idea of what Sanji was planning now, but didn't comment much on it as he passed her and went straight to the kitchen.

There, he lit a new cigarette and suddenly kicked the door wide open, shocking the hell outta Luffy who was inside the kitchen. 'Yeah Luffy, now's TT - Teasing Time!' Sanji thought to himself while inwardly grinning from ear to ear.

"What the heck?" Luffy only snapped in surprise and shock, jumping a good meter into the air as he shot around. There he saw no one else but Sanji standing in the doorway with a smirking expression.

"W-what do you want?" Luffy asked a bit confused and irritated by that sudden action of his cook. Honestly, kicking the door in like that wasn't something Sanji normally did. Not when Franky could be around and blew a coup-de- whatever at Sanji as punishment for destroying another door.

Knitting his brows in confusion, Luffy waited for an answer. He'd just been ready to clean the dishes and tried to tidy up the kitchen as his captain had come in like that.

Sanji then changed his smirking, cool expression into that of a little brat, a cheeky grin upon his face as he put the cigarette between his fingers.

"When's food ready?" Sanji asked in a childish tone and Luffy's eyes widened as he realized what was going on. 'Oh gosh..._payback time_...!' Luffy thought in horror. Really, this was the worst timing Sanji could have chosen! Luffy was a bit stressed as he knew he had to cook something really yummy for lunch to make up for the terrible breakfast (although he had found it yummy but well) and absolutely NO TIME for that now!

"So? I've got a ravenous appetite right now, I feel like eating a whole elefant!" Sanji said, rubbing his stomach, "So what's for dinner? I'm hungry! Feed me!" he whined, trying to sound as Luffy-like as possible, giving Luffy himself the creeps as the cook's eye twisted slightly.

Sanji smirked at that. This felt so good.

Two seconds later the former-cook was stuck between the men's room's floor and the room below, which happened to be Franky's work room. Franky shot around at the sudden crash, ready for everything but not for that. The usual though acting cyborg shrieked as he was right face-to-face with the blonde.

Sanji's legs could be seen in the men's cabin as they stuck out from the floor. Sanji struggled to get free but gave up after two seconds, sighing in defeat. Luffy really was strong, the now captain had to admit, even without his gum-gum powers. Especially if he was stressed.

"Sanji..captain..-bro! What the hell?" Franky half-stuttered, half-shrieked in a high tone, almost sounding like Nami that way. Sanji first blinked as he realized he had been thrown with the head first right into the deck and crashed through the first room, now stuck in-between the last two, completely upside down.

The blonde tried to smile, giving Franky a nice sight at his teeth. If he had been free, then Sanji would have scratched his head right now. "Eheem... I wanted to tell you that the kitchen door has to be repaired..." Sanji said, grinning as the only thing Franky could do was stare in shock.

"You know, Sanji-captain-bro, that there's other ways to enter a room..without destryoing something..?" Franky only murmured, still quite shocked.

Sanji sighed, getting the feeling that the one who had to suffer the most because of their bet was Franky, who had to repair broken things almost every minute! Poor cyborg. But at least, Luffy now had an idea about how it was if someone suddenly came into the kitchen and got on your nerves like that.

**~~Later that day, at the island~~**

"So my brave fellows! " Sanji - pardon, _captain _Sanji, exclaimed as he stood in front of his crew, "We're just about to discover new land!"

The crew had reached the new island only a few minutes ago. It looked interesting but it didn't seem to have inhabitans. The only thing that island had was a huge jungle that was to be seen with lots of exotic looking plants none of them had ever seen. Pretty interesting indeed. Most of the crew was eager to explore what kind of plants and animals would live here but just when they were about to go off into any directions Sanji stopped them.

He said it would be too irresponsible to just let them all run into the deep jungle, especially his two beauties -Nami and Robin- who could get hurt by wild animals or who knew what else! Sanji didn't want to imagine that horrible situation and immediately went into his captain mode. Besides, he wanted to show the crew HE was the better captain! Sanji was careful and tried to see the danger behind everything.

The blonde captain wanted to prove he would think before doing anything ridiculos like their former captain had always done. And he didn't want to lead the crew into dangerous situations, like their former captain! So Sanji wanted to check things out first. And this jungle certainly looked dangerous to him. So one or two reassuring words towards the crew would be apposite now.

The crew however rolled their eyes, a bit annoyed by the captain's speech. Zoro, needless to mention, scoffed something with his arms crossed - he wasn't Edison or someone clever but he knew one thing: He couldn't stand Sanji being the captain. Something must be done! 'Maybe only silent protest' he thought as he eyed Nami wearily who glared at him for scoffing.

But the rest of the crew didn't find it funny - the way Sanji was talking, the way he was acting. It was weird to see their nakama behaving like this but then, they feared they just had to get used to that. None of them could put a stop at this. No one else except Luffy. But the now-cook seemed nowhere near ready to give up. Nope, not at all. The crew knew just too well how stubborn their captain was! This all was pointless but it couldn't be changed. They had to sit and watch silently, and hope everything would be over soon.

"Tell us something we don't know, stupid captain baka." Zoro murmured bad-tempered. He still hadn't forgotten how the dart-board had made him cleaning THE WHOLE DAMN SHIP! Sanji _graciously _had allowed him to stop as they reached the island. Zoro had wanted to suffocate the man for acting like this. And by the way, what was wrong with him suddenly? The hell with that shitty blonde?

Sanji looked at him arrogantly before he 'tched', flipping back his hair.

"YOU are the moron here, damn cabbage head. What's up with you and your stupid brain? Can't you just be quiet for a few damn seconds and listen without asking stupid questions? Really, you're such a damn kid! Now just shut your mouth, captain's orders!" Sanji shot back and left Zoro blinking. Sanji never talked to him that way! Okay, the insults were practically similar to the old ones, but the tone and the... arguing atmosphere between the two was somewhat different. It was weird but Zoro couldn't really explain why. Plus, Sanji seemed to love abusing his power as the ship's captain... only for Zoro's disadvantage.

The green-haired-man silently wondered how long he'd be able to hold himself back to no that he smash Sanji's head _accidentally _into the next wall or so...

Narrowing his eye at the blonde, Zoro remained silent and wanted to hear what the baka had to say. It must be damn important if Sanji was acting all this 'I'm a captain so listen to me'.

"Hurry Sanji, I don't wanna be here out in the sun so long!" the female navigator voiced angrily, rubbing her soft skin on her arm," And I need to buy one or two things so don't you steal my time with this shitty arguing of you two!" Nami griped impatiently as she then checked the time.

Sanji shot around and grinned, almost breaking his neck while nodding furiously. Zoro imagined Sanji's light brain to flip out every moment, but wasn't surprised as nothing happened. After all, if there was nothing, then nothing could flip out. Shaking his head in surprise about his own childish thoughts, Zoro frowned. It was definitely _not _good if Sanji was the .

Luffy shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, still remembering about the breakfast only a few hours ago. The new cook didn't bother listening to anything Sanji said. At least nothing had changed about that.

He wasn't stupid. Even a blind man would have realized the crew found the breakfast more than awful. The horror was practically all written over their faces! But what could he do about that? He was no cook, he had no idea how to cook! He knew how to make a nice potato mush and end of story! Luffy had realized something very important after the breakfast today morning: He needed a good cookbook! Otherwise he would be doomed! So Luffy couldn't wait until Sanji would let them go around freely on this island. Luffy would race straight to the next town and search for a bookshop. This was his only resort to win the bet!

Of course he could just go to the library on the ship and search for a cookbook but if Sanji or anyone else would see him there... they would all know Luffy couldn't cook! This would be too embarrassing and he couldn't afford doing that! And even if he managed to take one away without anyone noticing then surely Sanji would notice sooner or later one of his cookbooks was missing! What if the former cook regularly checked on them if they were still there? So there was no other way for Luffy! He had to find one secretly.

Luffy turned his head a little so that he could see into the jungle. Or at least he tried to, actually he couldn't make out anything. It was... as if the jungle was a black whole that just waited to swallow you into endless darkness. Luffy narrowed his eyes, suddenly feeling strange about this all.. Something was definitely wrong here! He sensed danger, and instantly looked around to search for the enemy. He was here, Luffy could practically feel him getting his knife out.

Tensing, he waited for something to happen. The atmosphere was so tensed around them, Luffy silently wondered none of the others had noticed it already. Zoro seemed a bit uncomfortable, but nowhere near as irritated as Luffy. The rest was behaving like they usual would, making Luffy frown at that.

"Maybe we should... leave this island." Luffy said, making Sanji look at him with huge eyes.

"What? Why? Are you scared or something?" Sanji asked and it sounded a bit teasing, but the captain was truly surprised at this statement. But then, Sanji mentally slapped himself. He was the captain. No matter what Luffy said he didn't have to do it.

"I don't know-" Luffy started but was interrupted by Nami. "Luuffy, please just let Sanji finish talking so that we can go into town finally, all right? I can't stand the waiting any longer!" she added, sighing dramatically.

Sanji nodded, glaring at Luffy before he carried on with his talking. Luffy looked a bit dumbstruck, before he blinked and then crossed his arms. "Fine! Have it your own way!" he muttered, stubbornly turning around. So what if this island was dangerous? It was _captain _Sanji's job to take care of the crew and make sure there was no enemy - if he failed then this was only a great prove of how difficult Luffy's job could be, right? So why stopping him? Sanji just had to make a bad experience, too!

"... so that's why I ask you to be careful, especially you two my angels." Sanji eventually finished with his explanation that he would take care of any kinds of danger if necessery, causing the rest of the crew, safe for Luffy, to sigh in relief. Now they would be released from Sanji's grip.

'But then,' Brook thought, 'Sanji just wants to be careful and be a good captain. So maybe we shouldn't be too annoyed, after all he's just trying his best.' Brook scratched his afro, leavind Franky wonder what the heck could be itching if there's no skin under that hair.

"Oookay, so you guys!" Nami seized her chance to finally get a word in edgewise. " Deadline is eight o'clock... no, let's say seven o'clock in the afternoon. God knows what kind of creatures are living here, so let's be careful. If you don't show up until then here at the meeting place, our ship, then-" she suddenly was cut off as Sanji, close by her side, lifted his index finger.

"- Then we will leave the person/s on this island and just cast off." Sanji finished with a serious look on his face before he widened his eyes, hands clasping over his mouth.

"Eeeeh? B-but what if I get lost on the way or some accident happens? Will you just leave me on this island?" Chopper shrieked, fear was to be seen in his eyes. No, his nakama would never leave him if he was hurt! Right? But Sanji was the captain now and what the captain said was final... It was all so confusing!.. By the way, they couldn't just let him lay there, all alone! Chopper gulped in fear, glancing at his nakama, silently hoping they wouldn't listen to their new captain.

Nami's own eyes went huge, then she quickly shook her head with her hands waving all along. "What? No no no! Don't take him seriously, Chopper. Of course we wouldn't let you die here, if you were hurt."

"D-DIE? I could DIE here?" Chopper squeaked and hid behind one of Usopp's shaking legs. "B-but I don't wanna die! I- I'd rather wanna stay on the ship until you guys come back.." the little reindeer doctor whined slightly, scared to no end.

Sanji had realized his mistake and was at a loss of words. It had... just slipped out of his mouth! He couldn't help it! Next time he had to think FIRST and then he could speak..! Sanji mentally kicked himself for saying something like that and shook his head, forcing a smile for Chopper.

"I was only joking, ok?" he managed to crack out, gulping half of the words down as he looked into Chopper's fearful eyes. Now that he thought of it, how should he keep an eye at the little one? What if Chopper really got hurt and lay somewhere in the jungle, waiting for someone to help him? And what if... Luffy really had been right with just leaving the island?

Robin had to chuckle silently at that. Luffy may be a terrible cook but he would have known what to say. Even if Luffy didn't say anything, all he needed to do was smiling. Yeah, if Chopper had seen Luffy's confident smile then the doctor's fear would have vanished in an instant. But Luffy wasn't captain anymore, he would leave his jobs to Sanji.

Said person stopped in his movements. What was wrong with him? He had never worried about his nakama like that! They were strong, Sanji knew that very well, so why did he worry so much? Was it just because he felt he was _responsible _for them? Did it really make so much difference?

Shaking off his own negative imaginations, he lit a new cigarette and smiled again. "Just forget about it, Chopper. I wasn't being serious you know." Chopper's tensed form seemed to easy a little. Good.

"Okay, how about we finally go exploring? You mentioned you need a few things to buy, right? We don't have a map of this island, so how about we split up and go along the beach to search for a city? I mean, if there was a town or some people living here, then they would be near the ocean, am I right?" The crew smiled slightly at that, they would never have heard something like that out of Luffy's mouth. Never! Now they could clearly see the difference, Sanji was a strategist, a thinker! And Luffy just ran towards everything that looked like something to eat, not thinking twice. Well, not thinking at all!

Luffy noticed the smile's on most of his nakama's lips - safe for Zoro, his loyal ex-first mate - and pouted. He hadn't been that bad as a captain, had he?

"This way we will meet up sooner or later, in a city or on the beach." the young man with the curly eyebrow continued, "Oh and.. uhmm.. someone needs to stay here to guard the ship.." Sanji trailed off, then a huge smirk was to be seen upon his face as his gaze met with the shocked one of Zoro.

"How about you stay on the ship, Marimo?" Sanji said and normally it wouldn't have been a problem for the swordsman to just stay on Sunny and sleep or train until the others would return... but the way Sanji had said it! It had sound so self-pleased that Zoro didn't want to do Sanji this _favor_! Not that he normally would want to do _any _favor for Sanji but well.

"Don't worry, sencho-san, I will guard the ship." Robin stated in a soft way, smiling knowingly. The way Sanji wanted to make Zoro stay wasn't really fair so she wanted to put a stop at this. Sanji blinked in surprise but didn't complain.

"Okay, if you are okay with that, Robin-chwan..." Sanji said. "But I want you, Franky, to stay here as well, just to be safe. And maybe Usopp, too." Sanji looked at his crew, then he nodded as if to reassure himself. You could never be careful enough after all. If there was a strong enemy attacking the ship without the Marimo, Luffy, Franky, Brook or himself, then this would be pretty bad.

"Yo! You can count on me, Sanji-captain-bro!" Franky said, going into an awkward pose.

"Fine with me, just as long as you don't send me into the jungle all alone." Usopp shrugged. He was trying to hide it but the sniper was actually very pleased he didn't have to go with the others and just could stay on the ship. This island was... creepy.

Sanji was pretty proud at himself, he'd just found the perfect solution! If there was someone attacking the ship, then Franky would be there to guard the ship and, above all, defend Robin-chwan and Usopp could dash off as fast as he could to inform the captain!

Rubbing his hands in satisfaction, he turned around.

"Who wants to go with me?" He asked, and Luffy and Zoro automatically went off into the opposite direction. Sanji rose a brow before he sighed. Okay, he should have seen that coming. Pointless to ask in the first place. Luffy and himself still had this bet and it was no wonder that Zoro didn't want to go with him.

"You wanna come with us?" Zoro murmured towards the skeleton, hands in his pockets.

"Uhm.. sure, Zoro-san. If it's okay with the captain." Brook answered politely, waiting patiently for Sanji's answer. The captain just shrugged and the three vanished around the next palm tree. Maybe it was good if Brook was with the two hopeless idiots. That way they wouldn't lose their way and keep on walking along the beach.

So that left his Nami-swan (he jumped around like a child on Christmas), Chopper and himself. He wished the reindeer had joined Luffy's group so that he could be all alone with his beauty, but now it was too late. Damn!

"Be careful, you hear?" Usopp said, waving at the little doctor who merely nodded unsurely. Chopper was scared, but he had Sanji and Nami with him so it wasn't too bad.

"S-sure thing!" Chopper waved back as long as he could see the ship while walking backwards. Usopp seemed to vanish between two or three, maybe four, palm trees and suddenly it was deadly silent. Not even the ocean seemed to make a sound anymore. A shudder ran down Chopper's spine and he turned around, wanting to get close to Nami's leg to feel more save. But just as he turned around his jaw loudly made contact with the ground.

Nami and Sanji were gone! The problem was that Chopper couldn't see far as a few palm trees made it impossible to see along the beach. Chopper gulped, getting scared and made a run for it - straight ahead where he thought Sanji and Nami should be.

He didn't feel comfortable right now and now that he thought about it, he got a very very bad feeling about this island. Why hadn't he realized before? Why hadn't Sanji realized before? Everything was so... so deadly silent! The whole island was giving off such a cold aura! While he was running along the beach he noticed the island must be quite small.

Then he stopped after a while, completely out of breath. He looked around, into the dark jungle that seemed pitch black and tried to concentrate on sounds. But much to his horrors he realized there were none! This was absurd, on every island there are sounds! Maybe from a waterfall, from humans, or he could hear some animals, anything! But it was so silent it made Chopper think of a graveyard.

Poor Chopper didn't know yet how right he was about that. But he sooner or later would have to notice, and suddenly an icecold wind gust blew into the reindeers' face, coming from the dark jungle. It seemed as if death itself had breathed out deeply.

Like a warning... and just when Chopper was about to turn around and run back to the ship his world turned black.

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Don't kill me for that! I know that's a mean cliffhanger, sorry for that! I'll try and update as quick as possible, but please don't forget to review! And please remember, the more reviews I get the faster I update! So please tell me what you think of this chapter :D **

**REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS GREATLY APPRECIATED! =D**


	5. Dangerous island

**Hello everyone! **

**Scioneeris: Wow, thank you! :D I'm really happy you think so, it's always great to know if the reader's are really interested in your story. Thanks for telling me! :) Aaah, I swear I ALWAYS write it wrong xD But I corrected it now ;) I hope I can keep that in mind next time^^ Thanks for pointing it out ;) **

**Anime lover 3593: I know, it was really mean sorry ;) Okay, thanks for telling me, I'll keep an eye on that next time! :) I guess the crew's just as stressed as Luffy in a situation like this with the bet going between Sanji and Luffy. Thanks so much! :D **

**ruby890: Thanks! ;) You will see soon :)**

**xxShinxx: Yeah I guess you're right with that. Well, Sanji is trying to be careful (most of all he wants to protect Nami and Robin of course ;3) and Luffy is just a little upset because of the whole situation - he failed miserabely at the breakfast for example. Sorry if it was too out of character ;) Yeah, it's okay if you tell me your own opinion, I'm glad you did :) I'll try to keep everyone in character :) **

**Thanks! =) **

**Really, thanks a lot for reviewing, you made my day! :D**

**Same as always, if you spot some grammar or spelling mistakes, feel free to tell me! ;)**

**Soo, a new chappie! Here you go! =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece!**

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 5 – Dangerous island**

The first thing Chopper noticed was the strange smell in his sensitive nose. It was a familiar smell, he'd smelled it numerous times before… but he didn't like it. A cough escaped the reindeer's throat and in the distance he could hear someone talking to him in a soft but distressed sounding voice. This voice was quite familiar too… who was it? Did it belong to a male or a female? Hmm.. More voices at once, quite familiar too… what was going on? Chopper's head hurt and he couldn't really think straight and then this stupid burning smoke in his nose! It kept on distracting him and he couldn't breathe! He wanted to get rid of it now! Wait… what had happened? He was so confused!

"Chopper! C'mon, wake up will ya?" There was this voice again and this time it sounded louder and clearer than before. Slowly the tight fog around Chopper began to clear and he tried to open his eyes.

Where was he anyways? Where were his nakama?

As he opened them he wished he'd never done it in the first place. Because what he saw was really not something Chopper had expected to see….and it was horrible.

**-XXXXX-**

„Luffy-san, what's wrong?" Brook asked a little concerned and, if he had to admit, a little curious too. The tall skeleton was walking beside Luffy, followed by Zoro. The island was bigger than they had expected but they should meet the others soon. Or find a town if there was one near the coast.

Luffy only sighed before he lifted his head to turn his gaze at his musician. Then his eyes looked straight again. "I'm not quite sure but something is… off." He murmured, before he yawned tiredly. Funny, he was excited and a little tensed but even though he felt tired too.

But then, he was a little stressed. Okay, a little bit more than just a little bit stressed. Sanji's job was really not as easy as he'd thought. Now that he had experienced, at least for almost two days, how hard the cook's job could be, he wanted to be the captain again. He liked _that_ job much more.

Luffy absent-mindly sighed. He wouldn't have thought that he would give up that quick, really. Was Sanji feeling the same? Did he miss his old position too? Luffy couldn't help but doubt it. There was no way Sanji would, after all the blond had looked perfectly fine. Sanji really enjoyed being the captain! And, one thing Luffy hated to think of, he even seemed as the better captain! None of the crew complained about a wrong decision he'd made or anything like that! It was rather sad for Luffy.

This just was not fair!

And what should he do now? Going to Sanji and apologize? No way. But being the cook was rather exhausting, every single day. And he had failed so badly. Luffy didn't have many talents, in fact, many people called him dumb and clumsy. That was partly right. But Sanji, Sanji was clever and did actually think before he did something. That was his advantage against Luffy.

Luffy narrowed his eyes as he thought he'd heard something, some shouts, but then he shook his head. Nothing was wrong. It was just because of himself being exhausted, that's all.

First, he had to stand up early in the morning – really, really, reaaaally early – in fact, too early for Luffy's liking. Second, everyday he had to think of something the crew would want to eat and not only once a day but THREE TIMES! And, to make it perfect, a little snack between the meals would be nice too. And not the same as yesterday would be great. He couldn't just give his nakama everyday the same snacks.

,After that he had to make sure everyone's healthy and got well-balanced food with enough vitamins everyday, then he had to wash the dishes and after that Luffy didn't even get a simple 'Thank You for cooking' or something. None of them said it, it was just as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But then, it actually was the most obvious thing in the world – he was just doing what a normal cook had to do. It was his job.

But it was an awful one.

The crew left the kitchen and he had to be alone in that damn dark kitchen for the rest of the day. And the next day it was just the same. And the day after that. And –

"Luffy-san?" Brook's voice distracted him from his thoughts and his head snapped around. "Huh? What?" he asked, blinking as he just got back to reality.

Brook remained silent for a few seconds, then he turned his gaze to the ground. "What is concerning you? You look like something's bothering you." Of course the skeleton knew just exactly what was bothering Luffy. Even Zoro had noticed it. Luffy had no idea about cooking, they all had known that fact from the beginning. Luffy could never beat the blond in cooking. Never.

Luffy himself knew that – and he probably had known it even before the bet. But the thing Luffy was not aware of was: Sanji wasn't feeling too well in his current position either., This stupid bet between him and the cook was really bothering _both_ of them.

As Luffy didn't answer, Brook began to talk again. "Why don't you just give up? Sanji surely understands your trouble and if you just apologize to him everything will be fine again, won't it? The crew's really worried about both of you."

Zoro silently sighed and shook his head, which couldn't be seen by Brook as he was walking behind the two. The swordsman wouldn't have asked Luffy to do such a thing. It was useless, Luffy wouldn't give up, no matter what. He and Zoro were really ambitious to win, not only in fights. Plus, The former-captain would be too ashamed to admit his defeat like that, Zoro knew it. He himself would never admit something like that, especially not to the perverted- extraterrestrial- ero-dartboard! He would rather die than doing that!

Pushing his thoughts aside, he watched the black-haired teen's reaction closely. Luffy first remained silent before he broke into a grin. "Nope!" he exclaimed happily as if it was something to be proud of. Maybe that was the right word – proud. Luffy was too proud to admit his defeat.

Sighing, Brook decided to change the subject. This wouldn't bring them anywhere, but at least he'd tried. He and the other nakama just had to wait and watch.

"I wonder where all the animals are?" the musician wondered aloud as he turned his head in different directions. Actually, there weren't even some insects! What kind of island was this anyways? It seemed so… silent. He'd just realized.

"You're right… not even some spoors or anything. Weird," the swordsman agreed, narrowing his eyes as he suddenly got the feeling something was deadly wrong here. Something he should have realized earlier. He felt his muscles tense.

"Luffy?" he immediately asked and waited for the ex-captain's reaction. Which didn't come. Zoro frowned as the black-haired teen just kept on walking, even Brook stopped and looked tensed.

"I already told you something was off about this island. But captain Sanji didn't listen to me – in fact, none of you did. So if something was wrong, Sanji, as the captain, should have noticed, right?" Luffy murmured but the other two caught it and froze.

"What?" Zoro asked as if he didn't believe his ears. Was this really Luffy? "What the hell!" Zoro then grumbled and stomped behind Luffy. Said young man shot around and glared at Zoro, releasing all his stress, doubt and anger into that stare. Zoro stopped in his tracks.

"I already told you! It's not my job anymore! Sanji has to decide wherever we leave this island or not! So if we want to leave we have to find captain Sanji and the others first!" Luffy explained in a harsh tone and surprised Zoro and Brook with that.

Nope, this definitely was _not_ Luffy.

Zoro slowly nodded and for the rest of the time he and Brook silently followed Luffy who sighed. This wasn't right. This wasn't right. He kept on repeating his mind and deeply inside him knew this bet was the most stupid thing he and Sanji could have done.

**-XXXXXX-**

"EEEEEEEEK!" Chopper gasped loudly, trying to move away from that… _thing_. He gasped again as he realized he couldn't move away! A kind of rope was tightly tied around his arms and stomach and he found he wasn't able to move at all! What was going on?

Chopper then took in the situation he was in. At least he was trying to do so, as the situation was currently overcharging him.

He was tied with a liana and leant against the cold wall of stone. This stone wall actually was a volcano… he was inside a volcano! The ground was hot, too hot for him, and some parts of it were opened. Chopper could actually see the hot lava boiling in it! What kind of place was that? Luckily, there weren't many of these holes in the ground and they were small. Or maybe too big. They were just huge enough for a human to fall in…

Chopper's eyes widened and he gasped in fear at what he saw. There were some skeletons hanging above those holes, dead for probably a long time.

"Chopper!" Nami's voice! That was Nami's voice! Chopper's head twisted around and he immediately saw the owner of the voice.

"N-Nami! Oh God, what is this place? Where's everyone? Are you okay? S-Sanji!" Yeah, the now-captain was right beside his beloved Nami-swan. Both of his nakama were just as tied as himself, not able to move freely around. The two leaned against the stone wall as well, looking quite shocked and distressed.

"You okay?" Sanji asked as he sweated a lot. It was too hot in that strange place!

Chopper nodded quickly although he had quite a strong headache and felt like he would suffocate every moment. The heat and all the smoke made it almost impossible to breathe.

"C-could you put that.. away please..?" Chopper quietly asked with a trembling voice. But who could blame him. Not only that this place was really more than creepy, but also the fact that a skeleton was lying next to him. And it looked like it hadn't been lying around for too long.

Sanji tried to kick it away but failed miserably. These stupid liana's were around his legs, too. Just who the hell did this to them? If Sanji found him or her who did this, he would made sure to make them pay… also for hurting and scaring his Nami-san like this!

"What happened? Where are the others?" The reindeer's voice was to be heard and Nami, trying to be near Sanji in her fear, gulped.

"We don't know either. We were walking along the beach and just the moment we noticed you weren't there anymore something… hit our heads, I think. It still hurts a lot." Nami added in a whisper, wanting to rub her temples but had no hands free to do so. What a pity.

She saw the fear in the reindeer's eyes and couldn't blame him. She didn't want to know how she looked at the moment. Nami was quite scared as well… not to mention her trembling body. But what kind of place was that? A volcano? It looked like a torture chamber! Everywhere seemed to be.. skeletons! It was so creepy! And then this burning smoke… their lungs screamed for air and there was absolutely nothing they could do.

"Awake aren't we? Took you long enough." Suddenly a voice let the three of them froze immediately. At once all three pairs of eyes shot around and looked at the person who'd said that. A man, in his late thirties, was coming into view from a hole, probably the entrance, of the stone wall. Now that Nami realized there was a hole in the stone wall she tried to peek in a little – and saw something that remembered her of a complicated tunnel system. Who knew how far this cave-looking tunnel went into the mountain?

The man had long hair that was tied together so that it didn't get into his way. His eyes were ice blue and he was tall – probably taller than Zoro! Sanji had to gulp unintentionally and felt Nami shudder beside him. The captain heard a squeak escape the little reindeer's throat and felt sorry for the two.

Now, so he decided, was time for him to do something.

"Hey you bastard, what the hell is your problem? Just fight me like a man! " Sanji barked, not amused at all. This situation was giving him the creeps although he tried to hide it. Chopper and Nami didn't have to see him feeling this uneasy.

The tall man just laughed in a dirty way and threw his head back while doing so. Sanji immediately sensed danger. This man looked like he could do cruel things. And this surrounding supported Sanji's guess.

Suddenly, a few more men stepped behind the tall one. They were about Zoro's size, some bigger, other smaller but all looked strong. Their faces didn't show any emotion, just as if they were some killer machines. Nami looked like she was about to cry but didn't make any sound.

"What do you think gives you the right to call me a bastard?" The man laughed and Sanji's anger rose. "Do you really think you are in the right position to tell me what to do? We're playing after my rules now." the man answered, seeming amused by Sanji's desperate tries to get free.

What was up with that guy and his stupid fellows? "What do you want from us? Let us go!" Sanji grumbled, deciding he wanted a smoke now.

"My name is Al' tera. I'm the boss of this island and these are my… I believe you call it _nakama_." the man explained in a polite way, bringing the blond captain's blood to boil. He couldn't stand this stupid arrogant man!

"Wh-where are the others? What did you do to them?" Chopper silently squeaked and tried to sound calm. It didn't work very well as his voice was sounding weak.

Al'tera looked at the reindeer for a long time before he rose his voice. "Devil fruit user." he mumbled more to himself. "Your friends are being observed at the very moment. Don't worry little one, you'll see them soon." he added and smirked at the little doctor, showing some missing teeth.

"W-what?" Chopper gasped, fearing for his nakama. They needed to do something! They.. they had to warn the others!

"Don't think you could help them." Al'tera said as if he had read the reindeer's thoughts. Nami's and Chopper's eyes widened and they bit their lip in fear and defeat. What the creepy man said was true. There was nothing they could do…

"How come you can speak English?" Sanji grumbled, trying to change the subject. He knew he'd failed badly as a captain, just as Luffy had failed as a cook. He had realized it since the very moment he'd woken up. The now-captain silently wondered why they had started this damn bet in the first place… but now it was too late.

"I learned them from our victims. I guess you already know them" Al'tera said and motioned to the skeletons lying around. Sanji bit his lip, getting the feeling that this man was completely insane. Al'tera and his men had hit them one after one and brought them here into the middle of the jungle into a volcano. But why? Did he want to kill them for setting a foot on his island? If this was the reason, then why hadn't he killed them while they'd been unconscious? Sanji coughed at the burning smoke in his lungs and glared at the guy.

"We will begin with the ceremony as soon as the rest of your friends have arrived!" Al'tera said, lifting his arms as if he would celebrate a party.

Sanji gazed over to Nami and Chopper. Especially the little reindeer didn't look too well with all this heat and the smoke around. He felt sorry for the two – again. If he just could do something… anything!

He was the captain and it was his damned job! Sanji didn't want to fail like Luffy did… and Sanji didn't want Luffy to see him in this pathetic state…it would hurt his pride a lot. This was all so frustrating!

**-XXXXX-**

"Dang it all!" Zoro cursed, "Where the heck are they?" They'd searched the whole ship! No one was on board anymore but the worst part: There weren't even some hints! No broken chairs, no scratches on the floor, nothing! As if they had just… disappeared silently. A cold and creepy atmosphere was surrounding the last three remaining and each of them felt a shiver run down their spine.

Zoro now knew what Luffy had meant by 'Something's off.' How right their captain- no, their _cook_- had been. Luffy was a miserable cook and Zoro wouldn't have known how long he'd survived with him as the cook and all the terrible things he would cook….but he still was the better captain. Sanji had to admit… if he were okay. And Nami and Chopper too. They hadn't met them at the beach which was _really_ alarming. Something must have happened. Just what was going on?

The moment Zoro thought about that a cold wind blew into their faces, coming from the dark looking jungle. Of course the three had found it more than suspicious that they haven't met any animals so far… there even weren't any fishes in the sea or some crabs around.

Zoro felt that they shouldn't have come to this island in the first place. It was practically screaming the word 'danger' and it's appearance promised nothing but death. Funny how he just noticed this all, although it had been quite obvious, hadn't it? It was probably due to the tensed atmosphere around the crew since the silly bet.

"Oh god, what happened to all of them?" Brook gaped. This was so creepy! It was so deadly silent it remembered Brook of his lonely years in the fog back then…. he didn't want to remember. He gulped and turned around to look at Zoro, as if asking for an advice of what they should do now. Sanji, the captain, wasn't here… this was definitely a problem.

"They were kidnapped. That's for sure. We should go and search for them." Zoro quickly but firmly said, after all he was still the first mate, bet between Sanji and Luffy or not. And as the first mate it was _his_ job to make decisions if the captain wasn't present.

Luffy didn't say much. But Zoro could clearly see the silent rage in his eyes and wondered what Luffy was thinking about.

"This stupid cook!" Luffy voiced between clenched tooth. It sounded more like the grumble of a wild animal.

Brook and Zoro didn't say anything. they knew exactly that Luffy had meant Sanji by that. Luffy jumped off the ship and made his way towards the jungle, musician and swordsman silently following. They were ready to fight whoever they had to fight.

**-XXXXXX-**

"Robin! Usopp and Franky! Are you okay?" Nami almost screamed at the three who got thrown beside them like some useless items.

They all groaned and blinked a few times to clear their visions and minds. The three of them were now tied too but looked more or less fine. Thank god.

"What the heck is that kind of freaking place?" Franky blurted out, shocked as he took in his surroundings. Sanji sighed and he and chopper quickly explained everything to them.

"Robin? Can't you use your devil fruit powers to knock them out?" Nami whispered towards the archaeologist who shook her head, looking exhausted.

"If I could I would already have done so. I'm afraid these strange smokes around us are the problem. I can't use them, nor can our doctor-san." Robin explained and Al'tera just nodded furiously, grinning all the way.

"It took you some time to find out eh?" he commented and none of the strawhats replied to that. They had already figured out that you couldn't talk to this man in a normal way. He was crazy and his fellows didn't seem to be of any help as they just kept on moving like robots.

It was weird but Robin guessed that this Al'tera somehow had made them doing this. Like a spell. But the archaeologist was sure to find out what this all was about!

"They didn't attack us, it was more that they used some kind of gas to put us to sleep for a while. It was really conniving." Robin seemed deep in thoughts as she remembered what had happened. They had been on deck and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But suddenly the archaeologist had felt someone's presence and a weird smell in the air, apparently too late as she and Usopp and Franky had fallen asleep shortly after that.

"The hell! How dare you and do that to my beautiful Robin-chwan!" Sanji complained really pissed off. Not only that, but also that these guys kidnapped almost everyone of his crew! He was the captain and responsible for everyone of them!

Suddenly, Sanji wished to be cook again.

Nami was somewhat relieved that Franky and the others were okay. But still, their situation hadn't changed to their advantage – much to the opposite it really got worse! Now they had to fully rely on Luffy, Zoro and Brook! Oh great! Nami inwardly groaned.

Zoro's terrible sense of direction, Luffy's habit to get in trouble wherever he was and whatever he did combined with Brook who couldn't quit joking no matter how serious the situation was – need she say more? This couldn't be good!

But a little hope remained as Nami knew very well that you could rely on the three. All above she got the feeling that if Luffy's nakama were in danger he wouldn't hold back – captain or not.

"Oi! This is really uncool, Al'tera-bro!" Franky complained as if he was arguing with an old friend, making Usopp rise an eyebrow. The sniper didn't feel well in his skin and was horribly scared by those guys and the whole place. If only he could get his hand free…then he could quickly free Sanji and Franky, the strongest guys here at the moment, and they would easily beat the enemy, right?

However, the cyborg's complain was coldly ignored. The boss of this island seemed to be busy with bossing his so called 'nakama' around. What did they do? Franky tried to watch more closely. Some of them brought wood. A few women were bringing some baskets in and put them onto the ground, right besides the wood.

Suddenly not only Usopp's shocked gasp was to be heard. Everyone just realized what Al'tera – or more his men- were doing. They were bringing wood… they were throwing it all at one place… this could only mean one thing: Al'tera obviously wanted to burn them alive!

Sanji clenched his fists. No friggin' way! He couldn't let that happen! Not as long as he was the captain and responsible for… Suddenly Sanji stopped, then he glared at the man again. The hell with this 'captain' shit! Sanji wouldn't let that happen not just because he was responsible and not just 'cause it was partly his fault as he hadn't listened to Luffy. But he was still a member of the strawhats and the others were his nakama!

The insane man called Al'tera looked like he was very happy and pleased about how things were going. He stood there and watched his 'nakama' working. They seemed so strange, all the life in their eyes was gone… they were empty. What had this guy done to them? And what the heck was with this weird island? First no animals, then all this weird plants and this… creepy silence.

Did this guy do all this? Sanji slightly doubted it but had no idea what could have happened to all the animals… and maybe he didn't really want to know.

But suddenly he felt like mentally kicking himself into the butt. Of course! Why hadn't he realized before! He could easily free himself! Sanji's lip formed a slight grin and Nami, who had been quite scared as well as Usopp and Chopper, immediately knew Sanji had gotten an idea.

Maybe they didn't have to wait for the others to be rescued? But then, whatever kind of plan Sanji had, this Al'tera guy wasn't stupid either….

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter… it had turned out much more serious than it was usually planned. I maybe rewrite it later, depends on what you think of it ;) **

**So please tell me if this chapter was to your liking or not! Reviews are always greatly appreciated! :D**


	6. Realization

**Aloha everyone who decided to read this chapter (and thanks for doing so :D)!**

**To the reviewers (I hope you didn't have to wait too long for this, but school is annoying me again -.- ): **

**DarkAndStormyNight: Okay, thanks! :) Yeah, he has to learn it the hard way I guess^^ That's always great to hear for a writer! =)**

**Anime lover 3593: Why wouldn't I reply?^^ Lol oh yeah I'm sure there will be some action!^^ It's a mystery (as Luffy would put it) but you'll find out later ;) Oh I'm sorry for that, to be honest I had no idea how to describe that place… It's like a cave with the little difference that there is a huge opening above them. Well, I hope that helped a little, sorry for no better descriptions! Oh that's cool, thank you! Lol it's always okay to ask^^ I think three more chapters, but I'm not sure, maybe more. Well I write when I have time, I don't have the chapters already written. :) Thank you! :D**

**SpecialDevil62: Wow, thanks a lot! That really cheered me up :D **

**xxShinxx: That's great. Hehe yeah Sanji really is a cool guy :) Well, I like him a lot but Luffy is my favourite (can't help it^^), but I really try to be fair! Okay, good to hear ;) Thank you! =)**

**ruby890: Thank you very much ;) **

**Miyu Hinamori: ^^ I guess a few more chapters ;) **

**Ghost of the moonlight: That's just how our lovely Sanji works^^ Nope, certainly not ;)**

**Thank you guys so much!**** I'm so happy you all left such nice reviews! =)**

**I'm always grateful if someone points out a spelling or grammar mistake, so feel free to tell me if you find some. I'm sure there are some! ;)**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, never did and never will. **

**YXYXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 6 – Realization**

"Sanji? What are you doing?" Nami whispered as quiet as possible. She looked between the blonde and Al'tera with worried glances, not sure what would happen if their kidnapper found out what was going on behind his back.

Sanji didn't respond and only looked at her with a mischievous grin, like a little boy who had a great plan. In fact, Sanji's little plan wasn't that brilliant but it practically suggested itself. By the way this was their only chance to free themselves and not being rescued by the _cook_.

The others didn't mind but for Sanji it was out of the question. He'd rather kiss the Marimo's feet!... Okay, he wouldn't go _that_ far, but still Sanji rather wanted to free himself!

"W-what are you doing..?" Great, now Usopp had noticed Sanji's actions.

He stuttered a little louder and Nami, fearing that Al'tera could've heard that, kicked the poor long nosed sniper into the butt. She earned a surprised squeak and resisted the urge to kick him again, turning her head into Al'tera's direction to make sure he was too busy to notice them.

She sighed in relief as the strange guy who called himself the 'boss of the island' hadn't noticed and continued to order his poor 'nakama' around.

"Would you mind shutting your mouth so that he won't notice?" Nami barked between clenched teeth and Usopp gulped, nodding with wide eyes. 'Good, he understood,' the orange-haired woman thought satisfied and turned to Sanji again.

Mentioned captain was busy with not burning his fingers or any other limbs he may need later, in case they had to fight.

Nami slowly got the picture of what Sanji was trying to do, as well as the rest. "Good idea, Sanji-bro!" Franky silently congratulated and grinned. The young man with the strong legs pushed himself forwards, away from his crew. Sanji wanted to reach one of these openings on the ground were the unbearable heat was coming from. If there was open magma then maybe he could burn the rope around his wrists!

All the other nakama were watching closely, silently hoping Sanji would succeed. The earlier they could escape from here the better. Robin and Chopper seemed rather exhausted, all above the little reindeer who was suffering from both the strange gas and the heat.

Chopper wasn't used to that kind of temperature, not with his warm fur! How he would love a little wind gust now!

Usopp, despite the heat, was shaking with fear like a leaf in the wind and desperately tried to control the teeth chattering. The cyborg, who was sitting right beside the sniper, seemed a little bit confused by all this but besides that he was fine. He had drunken a few coca cola's after all, so no wonder. And he was so keen on kicking asses, as soon as he was free!

"Go Sanji! You can do it!" Chopper murmured a little nervously and wanted to fall asleep right there and now. He just couldn't stand this heat any longer. But if they had to fight… then Chopper had to be awake and help Sanji to protect the others, so the doctor fought to stay awake.

Robin, who hadn't spoken much since she and the others were brought there, was keeping an eye on this Al'tera guy and his men. What was up with that guy? Robin wasn't sure but she had an idea.

"Did you ever notice this Al'tera has dark blond hair?" Robin stated in a low voice and addressed no one in particular. Everyone else except Sanji turned to her and looked at her in confusion.

"Eh? So what?" Franky asked, not really getting what their archaeologist had meant by that.

"Yeah, and he has green eyes too…" Chopper agreed and slumped back against the wall of the cave.

Nami nodded, eyes a little narrowed. "This is quite strange, isn't it?"

Robin seemed lost in thoughts for a second but then she looked at the others again. Usopp had no clue what his friends were talking about and looked at Franky, silently asking for an explanation.

But Franky seemed lost too and decided to ignore the sniper and listen to the other's talking.

"What is so weird about that? Maybe it's become lighter because of the sun?" Usopp said in a quiet tone and Robin almost had to smile at that.

"No, longnose-kun, I don't think so. We think it's strange because his hair and eye colour is, unlike the dark hair and eyes of the other people here, much different. Did you notice anyone else of his so-called nakama with blond hair? Or green eyes? I don't think he is an inhabitant." Robin explained patiently to the other whose mouth formed an 'o'.

"You're right!" he only said, looking into that guys direction. It was true, the hair colour was lighter indeed!

"Maybe he is some kind of Robinson Crusoe! You know, maybe he stranded here?" Usopp added.

The navigator looked at him with sharp eyes, then she smiled. "You may be right. This would make sense… he stranded here and somehow managed to make all the people living here to be his 'nakama'… or more 'subordinates'. Such an arrogant baka!"

Robin had her index finger at her chin, trying to solve another riddle, maybe the most important all of them. "How did he manage to do so? Or rather, what did he use to make them to such aboulic subordinates? I don't think they would serve him by choice."

No one had an answer to that. But it was a good question though… How did he do this? And all above, why? Maybe Al'tera was just completely insane? Usopp found this very logical, something in this Al'tera guy's head seemed pretty ehm…mixed up.

"What the heck?" A loud and beaming voice brought them back to reality and just as they turned their heads towards the all too familiar voice in horror. The strawhat crew, safe for Zoro, Luffy and Brook, were surrounded by strong looking men with long spears.

"Uh-oh…" Nami gulped and widened her eyes. Dang, they forgot about Al'tera! The nakama tried to back away in reflex and bumped with their backs against the stone behind them. Reality hit them all at once. They had no chance to escape in their current position.

"S-Sanji!" Chopper squeaked in worry as he saw Al'tera himself easily lifted the blonde captain up and threw him against the wall. Sanji moaned in pain as he hit the ground but glared at the man before him.

"You asshole!" Sanji spat and coughed. Damn, he should have been more careful! If only he had managed to fully burn the ropes!

The captain with the curly eyebrow only had managed to reach the hole and carefully turn around to hold his wrists, that were tied behind his back, above the hot magma. As soon as he had done so, he faced a sharp looking spear and decided it would be better to stop moving.

"You naughty naughty boy!" Al'tera said, sounding like a father who was about to punish his son. "You really shouldn't do something _dangerous_ like that."

Sanji 'tchd' and brought himself into a kneeling position. He couldn't stand up, being tied with those stupidly strong ropes, but didn't want the bastard to look so much down on him.

'Yep,' Usopp thought upon hearing Al'tera speaking, 'definitely insane. Shit! Where the heck are the others?' Looking around in slight panic, Usopp searched for something he could lit or shoot to show Luffy and the others where they were.

A volcano was truly the last place they would be searching for them, wasn't it?

But even if the scared sniper had found something, he wouldn't had no chance to do anything. Suddenly thousands of hands were grabbing him and Usopp, clenching his eyes tightly shut in fear, screamed. He could hear the others complain as well, but didn't dare to open his eyes again. Not yet.

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

"The hell? Where are they? Such bakas!" Zoro slightly cursed under his breath. Brook and Luffy knew that the swordsman only tried to hid his worry that way.

"No idea, Zoro-san…" Brook panted, leaning against the next palm tree. "We've searched the whole island twice already, not a single hint of them, nor the enemy!" He shook his head, not understanding what was going on.

The skeleton looked around, scanning the area but he didn't see far. It was surprisingly dark in the jungle and Brook didn't like that. As if the jungle itself was evil and didn't like visitors… A shiver ran down Brook's spine and he gulped. No animals as well. Not even a little spider or something.

"Uhm… Brook?" Luffy suddenly voiced, "… there is something on your hand."

That caught Brook's and Zoro's attention, and both looked at the skeleton's hand, that was leaning against the palm tree. Almost immediately the musician shrieked and jumped away from the plant as the green liquid ran down the tree and formed a pool on the ground.

"Gosh, that was such a shocking experience right now I thought my heart is gonna stop! But then, I don't really have a heart any more, Skull Jo-" Brook began but was cut off by Zoro who ignored the silly attempt to joke.

"Holy… what was that?" Zoro blinked and carefully sniffled on the strange liquid, then he quickly turned away. "It's poisonous." he stated.

Brook gasped. If he had had eyes then they would have widened. "P-poisonous?" Looking at his hand, he quickly tried to wipe the strange stuff away from it and wiped it off on the grass.

"Are you okay?" Zoro asked and offered him a hand to stand up. Brook managed to nod and took the hand, grateful for the help. "Yes, I think so… thank you Zoro-san."

"Why is this palm tree poisonous? Obviously the poison came out of it." the swordsman grumbled and didn't like the aura this island was giving off… if there was even such a thing existing. "Maybe this is the reason there are no animals around."

"What is wrong with this island? Poisonous palm trees?" Luffy wondered aloud again, and he began, unlike himself, to frown and seemed in thought. Zoro rose his eyebrows at that but didn't want to disturb the rubber man.

Minutes of tensed silence passed and Brook watched Luffy's back. He seemed… relaxed. "Uhm.. Luffy-san? " he carefully tried to get the other's attention but instead of an answer only a slight grunt was to be heard.

Zoro let out an annoyed sigh. Then he hit the rubber cook onto the head with the hilt of Kuina's sword, waking Luffy up in the progress. "Eh? What's wrong?" Luffy's eyes snapped open, " Is dinner ready?" he asked a little confused and Brook gaped.

"He fell asleep? At a situation like this?" the skeleton was a little surprised to say the least. Zoro turned around. " Welcome to the infamous strawhat crew." he said while sighing again.

"Luffy, you're a hopeless idiot, but I think I've already told you so before. More important, how should we find the drama queen and the others?"

Luffy made a strange expression and Zoro feared the cook could start to _think_ again, but Luffy quickly snapped out of it, blinking as he pointed to the two volcanoes in the middle of the island.

"Have we searched the mountains?" he asked, sounding like an innocent child. Brook wondered what was wrong with Luffy, first he was more quiet than usual, then he was all angry and determined and now he was so child-like and immature.

Zoro's glance followed Luffy's index finger and he looked at the volcanoes for a while, before he nodded. "That's right, we didn't search there." the swordsman only murmured, a little shocked that Luffy actually used his brain and said something helpful. Well, apparently miracles still do happen after all.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go, adventure!" Luffy announced and turned around. 'Yes yes, there he goes again. ' Zoro rubbed his forehead and followed silently with Brook besides him. Luffy sure was really weird behaving today.

Luffy himself knew very well that Zoro and Brook were giving him strange looks. And he couldn't blame the two… he was behaving weird indeed. But truth be told, Luffy was just trying to hide his worry and bad mood.

Funny how much this stupid bet was bothering him. Luffy wouldn't have thought that it would upset him like that.

Luffy sighed almost not audible and looked towards the volcano before them. They would reach the top within a few minutes but even if the rest of the crew was in there… there was something strange.

As if they were being watched. It gave the ex-captain a bad feeling and he narrowed his eyes, trying to find the enemy but saw absolutely no living creature.

An awful smell rose to his nose and Luffy made a face, holding his nose. "Uarks! What's that smell?" he complained and turned around to the other two, only to see them in the same position as him, holding their noses (okay, actually he saw just Zoro holding his nose as Brook didn't even have one).

"Dunno. But it seems to come from the volcano before us." Brook said as he touched his precious afro in worry. That smell would never get out of his hair again, would it?

It smelled a little like vinegar, mixed with rotten eggs. Zoro felt the urge to throw up but resisted it, as well as the other two. It was awful!

"Well, I think we should search the other volcano over there." Luffy suggested and pointed to the other one, not too far away either.

The green-haired swordsman frowned. "Luffy, just because it's smelling out there doesn't mean the others aren't there. Maybe our enemy is waiting right before us in that terrible smelling hell and tries to trick us? He maybe wants us to go to the other volcano were we would be trapped." he explained and let go of his nose. A real man had to face a silly smell, even if it was such a terrible one!

Luffy blinked at the swordsman for a second and then he giggled a little. "Baka Zoro! You're thinking too much!" he laughed but realized this was a bad idea as he'd let go of his nose. Feeling sick he quickly grabbed it again.

"It's not because of the smell. I just feel that they aren't there. Call it instinct." he said and walked away from the bad smelling mountain as quick as possible.

Brook 'yohohoho'-ed at that and followed his former captain, saying this was a very good reason and Zoro smirked at that. "Instinct, eh?" he murmured and followed them through the dark jungle as well.

Soon they reached the top of the volcano and were happy to escape the damned dark jungle. Zoro and Luffy weren't really scared by the darkness but it didn't help them to calm down. Plus, this unbearable silence was starting to drive them crazy!

"Phew, we did it. They must be in that volcano." Luffy stated, his hands put on his hips. Brook looked a little confused.

"_In_ that volcano? You mean right down _there_?" The skeleton pointed straight ahead to the opening, steam and heat rising out of it. "Is that even possible?"

"Grandline, remember?" Zoro only said and shrugged. There was nothing that could surprise him, he'd seen a wannabe-god with those freaking long earlobes on skypea, a strange old sea cow that called herself a mermaid (okay, that he didn't want to remember) and far more odd things. No, it wouldn't surprise him if the rest of the strawhat crew were _inside_ the volcano.

"Gotta go and look inside, shall we?" Luffy said and didn't even wait for an answer as he dashed forward, suddenly not caring that his alarm bells were loudly ringing. Zoro and Brook looked at each other before they carefully followed close to Luffy.

As the black-haired teen reached the top and the opening he carefully looked down, only to see a bunch of people and a weird guy looking at him with wide eyes. But then he gasped.

"Minna!" Luffy yelled, seeing the rest of his nakama surrounded by those people. Their guy with the light hair, probably their boss, yelled something and pointed at Luffy like a madman and immediately a few other inhabitants came from a small cave of the right side, looking ready to fight.

"Luffy!" Nami, Chopper and Usopp squeaked at once, happy to see their former captain. Sanji clenched his teeth and coughed. "Shitty cook." he murmured, turning his head away from the rubber teen.

Luffy however didn't hesitate to jump down and attack the kidnapper of his friends. Zoro and Brook, looking down as well and quickly registering what was going on, followed immediately.

"Woho! Even afro-bro and Zoro-bro are here!" Franky cheered and Robin smiled weakly.

"What did you do to my cr- ehm I mean nakama!" Luffy shouted, aiming a few 'gomu gomu no pistols' at the enemy.

Sanji didn't pay much attention, at least he tried not to. He wasn't pleased with Luffy, the cook, rescuing him! And the stupid cabbage head came too! Dang. He was the captain now, wasn't he? He should have been able to save the rest of the crew, not Luffy! And Sanji knew he had failed.

Okay, Luffy had really failed as a cook too, but he wanted to win the bet so badly… and still didn't want to believe that the captain's job was so difficult.

Indeed, as suddenly realization struck Sanji like a hammer from above, being the captain was tough.

Not only that you had to carry everyone's dreams upon your shoulder, you were responsible for the crew's well being. You were responsible as the cook too, to be careful to feed the crew with healthy food, which was pretty important but this… this was something different.

He had said it would be okay to stay and hadn't listened to the warnings of Luffy. Yeah, maybe he should have. Why hadn't he realized the danger earlier? And this creepy silence too!

But he had been so careful! He had tried to pay attention to any danger near but just hadn't seen any! And even though Luffy was never careful he seemed to do a better job as the captain than him.

The crew didn't seem to blame him, at least that was good, but still he was so mad at himself.

Sanji wanted to kick himself into the butt right now. He was no captain. He was a cook with heart and soul, the kitchen was his place. Sanji wasn't made to do a captain's job. He felt that now, as all the blame and shame was pressing it's weights down onto him mercilessly.

"Yosh! Kick their butts!" Usopp said but was still hiding behind the tall cyborg, just in case.

Zoro and Brook used their swords, beating the poor people in less than one minute. They hadn't stood a chance against them from the beginning.

Al'tera first looked terrified but then he realized something and began to smirk, rubbing his hands. Now they would fight with _his_ weapons! Then he ordered his other men something in a language none of the crew understood.

But even though none understood what he was saying they could tell that Al'tera's cruel smirk was definitely not a good thing. Not for them.

And indeed, as the few men returned out of that small and dark cave, they had strange test tubes in their hands. There was some liquid with a weird colour, maybe turquoise, in it that clearly promised problems.

Luffy finished the few brave fighters and went straight for their boss, Al'tera. The black-haired boy sensed something was wrong with this guy and that he somehow was controlling all this mess. Maybe he was even the one who was to blame for the deadly silence of the island.

Pulling his fists back to shoot his gomu gomu no bazooka at the boss, he saw said man grabbing the test tubes out of his men's hands. The poor fellows didn't even look at Luffy, Zoro or Brook, just staring into nothing. What had their boss done to them?

"Now take that you pirate scum!" Al'tera laughed in a dirty way and something in Robin's mind made 'click'. She slowly began to get the picture and was about to solve most of the mystery. And she was sure that the liquid in that glas was dangerous.

"Luffy! Be careful!" she suddenly shouted and Luffy was just about to hit the man as Al'tera threw the test tubes right into his face.

The two test tubes broke and the liquid was blocking Luffy's sight. He let out a surprised yelp and closed his eyes, stopping as he tried to wipe the liquid out of his face.

It all happened so fast, no one could react. Al'tera seized his chance as everyone's attention was on Luffy and threw another test tube at the shocked skeleton who gasped. Zoro, not able to react quick enough, was hit by an other test tube.

Nami's eyes widened in shock. "Guys! Are you okay?" she sounded alarmed and didn't like the way Al'tera seemed too pleased. Then the already hurt Sanji, who was about to stand up and fight too, despite the pain in his side, was quickly tied with a rope again, there was nothing he could do as it all happened too fast. He inwardly cursed as he was being thrown to the others again. As he landed more or less gracefully right beside his Nami-darling, he inwardly thanked the guy who threw him there.

"Wah! Zoro, Brook! Luffy!" Usopp shouted, totally surprised and shocked at once. The three of them had their eyes tightly shut and suddenly something happened that none of them expected.

All three fell to the floor, coughing.

Franky gasped. "No way! The two strongest were beaten like that?" the cyborg couldn't believe his eyes. Luffy and Zoro, the crew's strongest fighter, just collapsed like that? What the heck did Al'tera threw at them? And why did this guy even have test tubes?

Robin frowned deeply, just how she had thought. This all seemed to fit together very well. Now she had an idea of who this man was. And she didn't like it.

The fellows of Al'tera tied Zoro, Luffy and Brook's hands and legs together tightly and threw them to the others. The three of them still had problems to see and Brook and Luffy did feel strangely weak, like they had fallen into the ocean…

Al'tera laughed loudly, scaring Nami, the sniper and Chopper with that. The dirty laugh echoed through the air.

"Now now my friends, we finally have caught everyone of your little gang! What a nice sacrifice this is going to be, eh?" he said, smirking as he saw the shocking faces of the crew.

Did he just say sacrifice?

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Yosh…**** cliffhanger again, sorry… but we're heading straight towards the end! I'm not sure if it will take three or more chapters for me to finish, we will see ;) But soon the mysteries will be solved! :D**

**Hope you all enjoyed reading!**

**Reviews are always greatly appreciated, so please leave a comment! =) I will try to update as quick as possible! **

**Ja ne ;)**


	7. I'm the captain!

**Hey guys :D **

**Thanks a lot to those who where so nice to review!**

**Anime Lover 3593: I know that was really mean, sorry^^ No problem! :) Okay, but still... I try to update faster next time! Hmm alright, I will try to not rush the story and be careful to not make grammar mistakes! Thanks for informing me ;) Well soon you will find out! Thank you for reviewing!**

**DarkAndStormyNight: Yeah, sorry^^ Lol yeah maybe he should^^ Hmm close enough x3 Thanks for leaving a comment =)**

**ruby890: Yeah Al'tera has lots of mean tricks... thanks for reviewing!**

**If there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me! ;3**

**Disclaimer: I absolutely don't own One Piece.**

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter 7 – I'm the captain**

„S-sacrifice..?" Usopp gulped in fear. Did he hear right? Were these insane guys going to sacrifice them? This couldn't be!

„Holy shit..." Sanji just muttered under his breath, still not forgetting the fact that he was responsible for all this shit. Oh drat!

The blond captain lay on the ground and tried to somehow get free. He couldn't let that all happen! He was the damned captain so he had to friggin' protect his crew! How the hell could Luffy manage to do that? Sanji coughed, the heat seemed to rise and he was sweating up a storm. It was so hot!

Luffy had failed too, he had brought his crew in dangerous situations but everytime he did he had protect them all with his life. Fighting for his nakama. Yeah, Luffy's nakama were his most important treasure.

Sure, Sanji loved the others too, but it was just different. Luffy would never give up and fight until his nakama were safe. Sanji would too, wouldn't he? But what was he doing? Lying on the ground like a bag of rice.

Sanji felt incredible weak at the moment. How could he let that all happen? Was he that bad as a captain? The blonde bit his lip and inwardly admitted his defeat. He hadn't won the bet, that was for sure. The captain's job was... pretty shitty. Yeah, that fitted it perfectly.

„You... are planning to sacrifice us? You kidding?" Franky snapped, more shocked than angry. Was this man for real? Al'tera smirked back and the very moment the cyborg and the others saw that grin they knew Al'tera really would do that.

„You damn bastard!" Luffy coughed, blinking numerous times. His eyes were burning like fire and he felt like drowning, not getting enough air into his hurting lungs. What was going on? Luffy coughed and closed his eyes tightly. This... this feeling! As if he had fallen into the ocean, plus he couldn't seem to see proberly! Struggling to get free of these awful tight ropes around his wrists and legs he twisted around, useless.

„Let us go! What is your fucking problem?" Zoro had had enough of this shit and this stupid coward! Why didn't he fight like a man? With fists or swords or whatever, Zoro didn't care as long as it was a fair fight! But this was just unjust and cowardly! It brought his blood to boil.

Shaking his head to get rid of the blurry vision Zoro cursed under his breath. „What was in that test tube?" he spat, glaring with red eyes at Al'tera. Damn, this strange liquid really burnt not only in his eyes but also his skin!

„Oh Gosh! Luffy, Zoro, Brook! Are you alright? You have to do something!" Nami panicked, not liking the situation they were in at all! What should they do? This all was happening so damn fast!

„You friggin' bastard!" Luffy kept on cursing, finding himself unable to free himself. He heard his own voice cracking and gulped, trying to get rid of the burning in his throat and lungs.

Chopper gulped and tried to hide his fear. Were they really going to kill them? No way! He looked around in panic, gasping and sweating a lot and searched for something that may could help them. His panicking glance fell upon the glass and the liquid on the ground.

Chopper stopped, forgetting about his panic for a moment as he eyed the shattered glasses on the ground with concern. What was in that tube glasses? The little reindeer got a bad feeling about that. The doctor slumped forward, feeling very weak. He just couldn't stand this heat! And these strange gases too!

Suddenly Chopper's eyes shot wide open again. The little doctor wasn't stupid. He counted one and one together and all of sudden realized why this Al'tera seemed so confident of victory. He had trapped them perfectly. No wonder he was so self-reliant.

Robin, the person who happened to sit before the little doctor, noticed as Chopper had slumped forward and tried to help him. She turned around, completely ignoring the fact that they were about to be sacrificed as more men walked up to them, and offered the little doctor a gentle smile.

„Is everything alright, isha-san?" she asked quietly and Chopper saw that Robin did look pale as well.

Chopper nodded slowly but then he shook his head around wildly. Chopper knew that Robin was one of these persons who were able to read other's feelings and emotions like an open book. The clever archaeologist would just look right through him, so there was no need to hide the fear.

The little doctor really was scared. Heck, this weird Al'tera guy was about to _sacrifice_ them! How couldn't he be afraid? And he seemed so intelligent too! Zoro and the others easily got defeated! Their situation was horror.

The reindeer shook a little with fear despite the heat and tried to get as close as possible to the black-haired woman. She coughed quietly and turned her head so that she could hear better what Chopper had to say. And she was sure the doctor had something to say.

„What did you figure out?" she whispered, not beating around the bush. Chopper, once again forgetting about his fear, turned to her with wide eyes as he began to explain his thesis in a low voice.

„Did you notice this strange liquid he threw at Brook, Luffy and Zoro?" he began, although it was quite a stupid question. Of course she had noticed, everyone saw what had happened. But Robin nodded thoughtfully and smiled at the young doctor to go on.

Chopper inhaled deeply. „Well, Luffy and Brook reacted differently than Zoro, it seems that the liquid in the test tubes weren't all the same, so I think-" But suddenly he was roughly cut off as one of Al'tera's men grabbed him.

Chopper squeaked in shock as he was lifted off the ground and Robin's eyes widened slightly. „Doctor-san!" she said alarmed and the rest of the strawhat crew yelped.

„Aaaaah give us Chopper back, you bakas!" Usopp shrieked, shaking violently with fear.

The wide-eyed man whose grip around the poor reindeer tightened just ignored the panicking and loud screams of the crew to get their crewmate back and stared at his boss, Al'tera.

„To hell with you!" Zoro screamed, he finally had a clear sight again but now found he was unable to freely move around, being tied up like that. „What the heck do you mean with 'sacrifice'?"

Al'tera pointed to him and the other nakama and soon a few more men followed and grabbed them one by one. „I don't know what you don't understand about the word sacrifice. But let me try to explain it in simple words. It means that you all are going to die." he said while smirking deeply.

„ What are you going to do to us?" Franky barked madly, his sunglasses falling to the ground in the progress but at the moment he could care less.

„I will kill you as a sacrifice for our kami. You all will be burnt alive." He said, motioning over towards the huge amount of wood on the ground. A few men were standing around the wood, waiting for the order to lit it.

As the sniper heard that he gasped loudly and tried to get free. Struggling violently against that grip of the man who was holding him, he shrieked. „B-burnt alive? You are insane! L-let me go.. please..!" It was useless, the warrior was way stronger than him. Beside, he suddenly felt really strange. Not only these strange gases that seem to come from the small holes in the ground.

But the sniper with the long nose also had a huge stomach ache. He moaned in pain, not knowing why he felt that way. But as he lifted his head he saw that his crewmates didn't look any better! The heat and the gases were giving them a hard time, as well as another problem. Nami wasn't looking as pale as Luffy but she was rather green in the face, the others too (safe for Brook and Chopper...)!

'Why's that?' Usopp couldn't help but wonder as he was carried over to the wood.

„N-NO! Waah, I don't wanna be burnt!" The long-nosed teenager cried as he realized in what kind of situation he was currently. The others were placed beside him, struggling to get free.

Brook was a little confused to say the least. First, this heat was killing him! Second, this odd air inside this volcano was making his mind fuzzy and third, the strangest part, he felt so damn weak. Oh, and he had suddenly gotten a bad stomach ache too... what did he eat before? Well, nevermind. He would be dead in a few minutes. Oh, but actually he was already dead...

„SKULL JOKE!" Brook suddenly cried out and wanted to clasp, but found he couldn't. Al'tera looked at him as if Brook had exclaimed he was pregnant! To make it simple, Al'tera's eyes were widened in surprise and shock at the sudden... ehm statement but he didn't comment on it much further, turning to the other crewmates.

„Say goodbye to this world. Har har har!" the boss of the island with the blond hair laughed in a dirty way, rubbing his hands against each other. It seemed to be a bad habit of him.

Luffy coughed and twisted around, not planning to be burnt like that. What a horrible death! He couldn't die like that, and not now! He still had things to do! Like becoming the pirate king or helping his nakama to fulfill their drea- wait. Luffy actually didn't have to make sure everyone's dreams came true, did he? He wasn't the captain anymore so- Luffy stopped, realizing something. Sod the bet! He decided. He would help his nakama, and he would make sure no one got hurt or died. Not now, not anywhere in near future. It was HIS job, wasn't it? He wasn't the cook, he just had absolutely no cooking skills at all! Luffy was the worst cook ever, he had learned that by now!

As everyone of the crew lay on the stake they all tried to get off of it and struggled - without success. They all felt sick and weak and tired. It was as if this odd Al'tera had planned this all – and his plan seemed to work perfectly! But this couldn't be the end, right?

Al'tera turned to his motionless men. „Give me that torch!" he said to one of them who was holding a burning torch, then he added: „And now leave! I, as the boss, need to burn them myself without anyone to watch! That's the tradition!" And his men left quietly without complaining, taking all of the strawhat's weapons along. Usopp's bag, Nami's stab, Zoro's and Brook's sword(s). Without making a noise or any expression. Yeah, really like machines.

„Let us go, you insane bastard! Or fight me like a man!" Zoro scoffed. It was pathetic for him to lose like that! Ignoring the sudden stomach ache he grumbled madly at Al'tera who smirked at them.

„Fighting huh?" He said, rising an eyebrow. The boss shrugged arrogantly. „If this is your last wish... but I won't fight you."

The green haired swordsman smirked back. „Scared, huh?"

Al'tera hated that expression and crossed his arms before his chest, scoffing back: „No way, you big baby! But it's the tradition of this island that only the leaders are having a fight! And the winner makes the rules!" Sticking his nose in the air he 'hmphed'.

Zoro clenched his fists, grumbling an insult. The swordsman could swear that this Al'tera really was scared of his appearance – all the muscles and the death glare – and just made up this 'tradition-thingy'. What a coward.

„So you will fight our captain?" Robin asked weakly. This was going to be interesting... her glance wandered to Luffy and Sanji who happened to lay beside each other. The two exchanged a glance.

Nami, who lay beside the archaeologist, frowned in worry and waited impatiently for what would happen next.

„That's right," Al'tera nodded, instantly hoping that this weak looking skeleton was the captain. „So, who is the captain?" he added.

„I am the captain!" Two voices exclaimed self-determined. All eyes went over to Sanji and Luffy who glared at each other. Luffy's red and burning eyes didn't show any fear, Sanji's eyes were filled with pride.

Nami and the others sighed, not sure what to think of that situation. They should have known, Luffy would never want to risk one of his nakama's lifes or let them fight for him and Sanji, well Sanji probably wanted to make up for failing like that. But none of the crew would blame him! The ex-cook just was too proud and maybe ashamed too. Sanji maybe just wanted to prove he could be a good captain too. He wanted to prove himself.

„Damnit Luffy! Did you forget about that bet?" Sanji madly spat, „I'm the frigging captain now!"

Luffy clenched his teeth, glaring back at his _captain_. „Sanji you _fool_!" he only barked back, at a loss of words. He knew Sanji somehow was right. But he didn't want the blond to fight this man! Al'tera was a scared man with scheming tricks! Luffy may be naive but he had noticed tone thing about that man from the very beginning:

Al'tera was no fair fighter!

And Luffy didn't want Sanji or anyone of his nakama to risk their lifes just because of their damned bet! He was no good captain if he allowed that to happen, right? No Luffy couldn't.

Sanji ignored his former captain's complain and turned to Al'tera. „I am the captain of the strawhat pirates! Right?"

The rest of the crew didn't know what to say and avoided Sanji's glance. What should they say now? They knew very well that Luffy was their captain, bet or not. And Sanji was their cook, no matter what. And if they agreed now then Luffy would never forgive them and Sanji would risk his life.

But if they said no and supported Luffy then Sanji was the one to never forgive them... so what to do? The crew decided to not answer at all and just stuttered something under their breath.

Al'tera seemed satisfied with this answer and grinned at Sanji in an arrogant way. „Good, so then you and I are going to fight. If I win then you let me do whatever I want with your crew. If I lose then you can do whatever you want with my men. Fair, isn't it?"

Sanji glared at him. „No way is this fair! But I don't care either way, I'll just kill you!" he said between clenched teeth.

„Sanji, NO!" Luffy spat, struggling again to get rid of being tied like that. And he wanted to get rid of that weak feeling, and of that heat and all that shit! It was too much and Luffy just wanted to kick this guy's ass now!

„Luffy, just SHUT UP, will you?" The harsh tone shocked everyone and Luffy was quiet in surprise, looking at Sanji with a shocked expression. Sanji glared back.

„Shut up. Captain's orders." he said and turned to Al'tera. Luffy was speechless. What should he do? What should he do now? Captain's orders were captain's orders, he could do nothing about that. What the captain said was final. But still... he should be the one fighting Al'tera, not Sanji.

Al'tera had thrown the torch into one of the holes in the ground and freed Sanji. Now the two went into a fighting position, cracking their knuckles. Although Sanji's side hurt a lot from before he ignored the pain and was ready for a nice fight.

He couldn't lose now. That would only prove his weakness and- oh gosh he almost sounded like the stupid Marimo now! Anyways... he would win now, then that would be prove he hadn't failed as a captain. At least not too much. Okay, actually he already had failed as Sanji himself knew he couldn't carry everyone's dreams and bear the huge responsibility as the captain. The former cook sighed. How he wished he would stand in his kitched and prepare a nice drink for Nami and Robin.

„Bring it on, you weakling! You already look pale!" Al'tera screamed in his madness and laughed. Sanji had to admit he had a terrible stomach ache at the moment, god knows what he had eaten before, but that wouldn't stop him from kicking his ass- wow, now he sounded much like Luffy...

And so the fight began with the crew watching helplessly. Luffy was busy biting his lip, feeling responisble for what had happened and inwardly hoped Sanji would win. What was wrong with him? Sanji was strong as hell, so why did he worry so much? Maybe it was because he felt that Al'tera was not stupid and had many tricks. But Sanji was clever too!

The now cook didn't really know from where this bad feeling was coming from and tried to reassure himself. Sanji would win and then they could talk. Talk about this stupid bet...

„Sanji!" Chopper cried weakly, watching with wide eyes as well as the rest.

„Oh gosh Sanji!" Nami shrieked in horror as the captain crashed to the ground right next to one of those test tubes, gasping for air. What did Al'tera always throw? What where these weird liquids and gases in these test tubes?

Sanji coughed and waited for a few seconds to get a clear sight again. 'Shit,' he thought while rubbing his burning eyes, 'what's wrong with this guy and his fu-ing test tubes?'

„Har har har. Now you don't seem too self-confident. What's wrong? Are you scared now?" Al'tera teased arrogantly and Sanji imagined himself strangeling this guy. He was driving Sanji crazy!

Standing up on shaking legs Sanji tried to swing a leg at him but missed as Al'tera dodged. Sanji stumbled and Al'tera kicked him from behind, causing the blonde-haired man to fall again.

„See? You're just as weak as everyone else. No one can ever win against me! Look around, all these poor pathetic creatures have lost as they came to this island!" Al'tera lifted both arms and Sanji and the others let their glance wander around. Everywhere were skeletons or bones and it made them shudder.

Sanji spat some blood to the ground, sweat ran down his forehead. He could hear his own blood rush inside his ears. Sanji felt so exhausted. He just wanted it to be over and sleep.

„You know, actually I never wanted to burn you." Al'tera suddenly said, smirking this damn smirk of his again. Sanji, trying to get up as his head spun, frowned.

„What are you talking about?" he asked rather irritated by that statement and the others were curious to what that meant as well.

Al'tera, feeling all eyes on him, enjoyed the attention. „ Well, I've been waiting for so long that wanted pirates would come to this island. But sadly there only came these no-name pirates." he sighed as he looked at one skeleton on the ground. „I 'sacrificed' them to no one - I don't believe in anything or anyone but myself but I thought it would be better to let them think they were a sacrifice – not that it mattered, I killed them after all. "

Everyone's eyes widened in pure horror. This man was insane. None of the crew knew how often they had already thought this, but they could only repeat: Al'tera was completely insane! How could one man be that snotty and disgusting? They would never understand.

„S-So you were planning to hand us over to the marine?" Usopp's voice cracked in fear. Yeah, that made sense. That's why he sent his men away before! They seemed to do everything what Al'tera said but still the arrogant man wanted to be sure and sent them away.

Chopper and Brook gulped, their breath hitching. So that was what Al'tera had wanted to do. He had known they were famous pirates? But why-

„Yeah, I know the mugiwara no kaizokudan! They told me about you!" The man with the green eyes said and pointed to the skeletons around them. „And I also know that your captain is Monkey D. Luffy! But the only thing I don't know is what you looked like, so I had to first wait and see. But soon I realized who you were and trapped you here! Clever, right?" Al'tera nodded as if to agree himself and the strawhats exchanged shocked glances.

„Don't gimme that shit!" Sanji yelled angrily and coughed.

„We don't care about that." Robin said coldy. „Eh? Robin...?" Nami whispered, frowning slightly. Did Robin have a plan?

„But you are no inhabitant, are you?" The black-haired woman said and Al'tera only nodded, looking at his fingernails as he turned his back to her, showing no interest in that conversation. Robin ignored that and went on.

„I know who you are." She only said and caused Al'tera to shoot around, a bewildered look upon his face. „Wh-what?" he spat.

Franky blinked at their archaeologist. „Eh? You know this guy, Robin-sis?" he asked confused and Robin nodded.

„Yeah, his picture had been in the newspapers years before. Together with the headline: 'Famous chemist of the marine lost in terrible storm.' I've read the article about you." Robin explained and watched as Al'tera got paler and paler with every word she said.

„And your true name isn't 'Al'tera' either. Your name is Arch Meldowin, a former chemistry scientist of the marine, correct?" Robin narrowed her blue eyes at the boss of the island and he sweated a lot, gulping under that stare.

„Y-yes, so what?" he said, grumbling. This stupid woman! He didn't like it if someone found out about his true identity... the marine and the rest of the world thought he was dead!

„The article said that you fleed with a stolen ship and got lost. They never found you nor your corpse but assured you died in that storm. So you stranded here." Robin paused for a second to let the words sink in and the crew gazed at their archaeologist in awe.

„So he stranded here years before? I see! Then you somehow found a way to manipulate the poor inhabitans here and made them to these robots!" Nami continued and Al'tera alias Arch glared at her.

„Yes yes it is all true!" he spat furiously and threw his arms into the air to emphasize his anger.

Usopp's eyes widened. „Ah no wonder this guy has these many test tubes!"

„But why did he flee from the marine?" Brook asked and Robin had an answer to that.

„Arch Meldowin killed one of the marine fighters – I guess he used him to test a new 'weapon' or something, right?"

Arch grumbled in anger and nodded. „Yes, I killed that frigging guy who always got on my nerves! But it was an accident, I had no idea that new liquid I mixed together would be able to kill a person! But no one believed me so I decided to take all my stuff with me and flee- no matter where I land. And here I am now!" Arch's smirk returned. „And all these nice people lent me a hand to test my newest mix of chemical stuff!"

„And with the help of that you made them to your personal servers?" Usopp asked. Arch nodded and the sniper felt his disgust for this man rising.

„This weird gases coming from the holes in the ground... you've become immune against them as well as the inhabitans but for foreigner it is like poison. The gases are burning in lungs and eyes. And it's weakening devil fruit users, right? Oh and the liquid you threw at Luffy and Brook was something that weakened devil fruit users as well, probably the gas mixed with some other chemical stuff. Our poor Zoro-san got another treatment with a different liquid, maybe some kind of acid." Robin went on with her thesis and all Al'tera could do was nod. This woman really was clever, she'd almost figured everything out!

„Wow wow wow, wait a minute! What about this weird silence? And were are all the animals?" Franky interrrupted impatiently. He didn't care about the bastard's biography or whatever, he just wanted to know the most important details.

„The animals? Oh yes, that's easy to explain. And I don't care anymore if you know about my secret or not. Well I had a few barrels of the new fatal liquid I had invented back at the marine base on my ship. As I stranded here I first wasn't sure if this island was occupied and decided to bury the barrels – which I did. I don't know why all these animals died from that but-" the ex-marine was cut off by Nami who gasped.

„Oh my god! This weird stuff in that barrels probably was poisonous as hell and as you buried in the ground it somehow must have gotten into the ground water!" Nami slowly got the picture and went even more pale as before.

„There it floated into all the rivers and lakes of the island were every animal drank from... the whole ground got poisoned and all the plants were infected that way too!" The navigator gulped and tried not to cry. She loved animals and the imagination of what must have happened not too long on this small island was horrible.

„Yeah, that's right! The plants are poisoned! So that's what this weird stuff was back then.." Brook said and glanced at Zoro and Luffy who nodded, more or less speechless about what they heard. Just because of this insane man so many things were destroyed, so many anmials killed.

Arch Meldowin had poisouned the whole island with his frigging mixed-up liquid! He was so sick!

„You.. you monster!" Nami said and bit her lip. What a terrible guy he was. And he experimented on these poor people to make them like this … now they don't have an own will and practically have to do everything Arch said... such a sick marine bastard!

„I don't care what you call me. But I will hand you over to the marine and then I'll be rich!" Arch said and smirked at his great idea.

„Like hell I would let you do this! I'm the captain so I will protect my crew!" Sanji stood up again, glaring with all of his might at the monster before him. He couldn't lose, no matter what kind of strange mixed up chemical stuff he threw at him!

„Sanji you can do it!" Luffy suddenly said with a surprising strong voice and Sanji first was a little speechless. Then their cook turned to the others. „Guys, don't you give up just because our situation doesn't seem too bright at the moment. But that doesn't mean anything, the last word isn't spoken yet!" Luffy said, full of determination.

Robin chuckled slightly at Luffy's way of talking. 'The last word isn't spoken yet..' It sounded strange but like something Luffy would say. So typical, but Robin was happy their cook was like that. His words gave them new energy and courage.

„We just can't let that bastard win!"

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Yosh, Robin's clever, isn't she? =) Hope that all made sense, at least a bit^^ And I thought of the name 'Arch Meldowin', sorry no better name came to my mind ^-^'' But I guess it somehow fits the insane guy xD **

**Oh, and can you guess from what most of the crew got that terrible stomach ache? It's almost obvious lol^^**

**Another thing, I hadn't expected it to turn out that way (I'm so sorry for all that animals!).. but well, we'll see where this story will lead to, eh?**

**Well I'm a bit sad that I got less reviews than for the last chapter... so I ask you to please please review this chapter again! I'm really motivated to type more if I get more reviews! Pretty please? :3**

**See you next time! =D**


	8. Hope?

**Konnichi wa!^^ A new chapter, phew! Hope you didn't have to wait too long ;)**

**To the great people who were so nice to leave a review: **

**ruby890: Aw thank you! That's really great to hear, makes me very happy! :D**

**Anime lover 3593: Yeah, I wondered if it was too much at once^^ Hmm I think he just doesn't think as much as others or doesn't even bother to think about something. If he says something (and it sounds wise xD) then it's just out of instinct, and he has a pretty good one^^ Okay, thank you ;)**

**reason for all: Thanks a lot! I will try! ;D**

**Scioneeris: Yes, finally some action^^ I'm glad you liked it that much :) Thanks for telling me that, it's always amazing for an author to hear that from the readers :D **

**Thank you all so much for leaving such great reviews! :3 Pls enjoy ;D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece! Never did and never will. **

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter 8 – Hope?**

The rest of the crew mostly stared at their cook who looked really pale. But somehow they felt their lips forming a gentle smile. They just couldn't help it. Luffy's determination and enthusiasm really were contagious!

Even Sanji had to smile a little as their ex-captain just needed to look at his nakama with that special expression of his and they began to smile. And everyone believed what Luffy said.

They could win, even though it looked really bad at the moment. But just like the saying, the one who laughs last laughs best, Luffy was right for once.

And that was what gave them all courage. Even Chopper and Usopp didn't look as scared as before, they knew they could always rely on their friends! Everyone of them knew that they were strong, strong enough to fight this battle. Strong enough to win, no matter how hopeless it may seemed.

The nakama only needed someone to remind them of had just forgotten, simply as that. And Luffy always did a good job in doing so, in that point he never failed. He was the one who gave them hope.

Even if Luffy himself was tied, weakened, unable to move and really pale.

„Sanji!" Luffy cried out and the now captain, who still had problems to stand without getting a blurry sight, glanced at the bundle. He looked so weak at the moment, yet his voice was so strong.

„Just beat the shit out of that guy! You can do it, we all know that! You _know_ that you are strong enough, so don't act as if you were weak, you hear me?" Luffy said with full force and Sanji was not the only one in that cave who felt a shudder run down his spine. It were simple words. But as Luffy said that everyone could feel it wasn't just a speech to reassure his nakama or Sanji himself. Nor was it a speech to awe Arch alias Al'tera.

It simply was the truth. And it showed how much Luffy believed in his nakama.

Sanji first blinked at the black-haired teen and as Luffy said:" What are you waiting for? Let's get outta here as quick as possible, ne? This guy needs a whipe-down, so give him a good trashing!" Sanji smirked, then he nodded and turned to the slightly irritated Arch Meldowin.

„That's right! Kick his ass!" Usopp added, although he was scared the long nose sniper had to cheer for Sanji. Luffy was right, for once.

„Go Sanji-kun! He asks for it!" Nami said, sure to win. She didn't know wether it was the sight of seeing Sanji confident or Luffy's simple presence. It was amazing how their ex-captain could change the tensed atmosphere by just being himself.

„You finished now?" Arch tried to tease with that arrogant expression upon his face. „Cute how they try to push you forward."

Sanji only rose his curly brow at that weak teasing. „You serious? Tch. Wannabe shaman."

As Arch's face turned slightly red in anger Sanji knew his teasing had been much more effective and he inwardly congratulated himself for that. Not that it was that difficult but well.

The rest of the crew silently watched, thinking as best as they could to figure out how to get rid of those annoying ropes around their wrists and legs. They needed to get out of here, this gas was killing them! Especially the poor little doctor. The heat seemed to rise too, as it became nearly unbearable.

„We need to somehow cut those ropes! Got any ideas?" Nami whispered towards the others. Curse this damn island!

The others tried to think of a solution which wasn't easy. How could they escape?

„You weak crybaby! Look at your red eyes, you can't even bear the simple gas around here. Now prepare to die, weakling!" Arch spat angrily, pulling another of his test tubes out. Sanji wondered how many of that things he got under his piece of clothes that was around Arch's upper body.

Again, Sanji could only laugh at this weak attempt to tease him. „I've met scarecrows that were more creepy than you – you only make me laugh, you dipshit. Now bring it on."

„W-what? Y-you rude brat!" Arch shot back, completely furious by now. The man with the light hair lifted his hand with the test tube and suddenly jumped forward.

Sanji widened his eyes a bit at that sudden movement and stepped back, noticing his shaky legs. But he wouldn't go down, no matter what! Luffy was right, he would kick that guy's butt for sure!

Arch let out a creepy yell that sounded like a freaky battle cry and Sanji yelped in surprise. 'Such a frigging freak!' shot through the captain's head as he prepared to kick that guy to the moon, lifting his strong right leg.

Arch smirked and all of sudden he threw the test tube into Sanji's direction. Sanji was a little puzzled at the man's surprising speed and the moment he heard the warning cries of his crew the test tube made contact with his face.

Damn it, he should have dodged it! But it all had happened amazingly fast, Sanji just didn't have the time to react!

„Oh gosh, Sanji!" Chopper weakly shrieked. The small reindeer looked utterly exhausted and Franky was surprised that Chopper could even manage to scream that loud.

„Are you alright? Sanji-san!" Brook shouted with his mouth wide opened.

Zoro just bit his lip, fearing that the liquid in the test tube could have been some acid. If Sanji lost they would be doomed. Then they had no chance of escaping, had they? Darn! The swordsman hated this insane guy who called himself Al'tera.

Blinking to get rid of the damn burning in his eyes, Zoro grumbled under his breath. „Damn ex-cook!" he muttered, actually pissed off by this whole situation. If only he had his swords...

Sanji gasped as he felt the glass shatter into pieces and cut some parts of his face. Stumbling back with his eyes tightly shut, he slightly panicked as he could feel the cold liquid run down his cheeks and forehead.

He gasped and tried to rub the strange liquid out of his eyes and face. Glass splattered to the ground along with a little blood from the cuts.

Sanji coughed and didn't dare to open his eyes as he madly rubbed them. 'Dang it all! This bastard! I hope this ain't no acid or something...!'

Panting loudly, Sanji slowly realized that actually the only thing that burnt in his face were the small cuts he had recieved from the glass. Frowning slightly, the captain slowly opened his eyes.

As he did so he gasped, Arch was right in front of him and the last thing Sanji could see before the fist crashed into his face was that immense smirk of Arch.

Sanji flew back to the ground, groaning slightly at the pain and blood dripped down from his mouth. This guy couldn't be that strong, could he?

Hell, the hit Sanji just had recieved had been enormously strong! If this guy had that much of power then Arch didn't even need to trick and 'fight' with his test tubes and other chemical stuff! So why? Was it because Arch enjoyed it? Sanji couldn't imagine that, no matter how insane this guy was.

„Sanjii!" some of the crew shouted in shock and worry. Ugh, the hit had looked really painful and Usopp, gulping, could swear he had heard something crack. That hopefully hadn't been Sanji's nose!

„Oooooh what now? Scared again?" Arch teased and really began to get onto Sanji's nerves. Mentioned ex-cook just grunted back in anger.

„Hah! As if! Bastard" Sanji then grumbled madly and he stood up again, wiping the dust off his dark trousers. Then the blonde looked at his wet hand and frowned deeply, before he shot a death glare at Arch.

The blond chemist unconsciously took a step back but his expression didn't change. He was smirking again and slowly nodded, more to himself, as he said:

„So, finally figured out eh? Took you long enough, har har! Yes, to answer your unasked question!"

Sanji's face became dark red as he thought his blood must be boiling right now. This bastard had tricked him yet again! „Water!" he shouted in his anger and wiped the rest of the liquid out of his bleeding face.

„Huh? What?" Chopper blinked tiredly, then he looked at the weak Robin, silently asking for an explanation.

Robin turned her head and gave the great sniper a soft smile. „The liquid in the test tube that has been thrown into Sanji-kun's face is only water. Arch had fooled him." she explained in a whisper and Chopper grumbled. This Al'tera didn't even bother to fight fair!

„You damn-" Sanji started to curse, ignoring the fact that his precious Nami-swan and Robin-chwan were present and could hear every word he said. But he was cut off as another small object that was made of glass flew into his direction and Sanji saw the liquid didn't have any colour, much like water.

Though Sanji wasn't so naive to fall for that simlpe trick as he wanted to jump aside, not leaving the test tube out of his eyes. But somehow his legs didn't work so quick as he felt the test tube hit his arm, cutting a little of his sleeves open.

Sanji then widened his eyes, yelping at the sudden pain. Just as he had thought the liquid that had looked like water was some kind of acid - it burnt his skin!

Grabbing his arm as Sanji groaned, he shot a glare at Arch who smirked. „He he, just as I thought! You may noticed this could have been something else than water, but your mind relaxed a bit upon seeing only 'water' again in those test tube – that is the simple psychologie of humans."

Sanji bit his lip in pain, not wanting to admit Arch somehow was right as he continued to glare at the guy. But that small wound on his arm didn't stop him from beating the shit out of Al'tera!

Meanwhile, Brook tensed a little and looked slightly irritated, which was noticed by Franky. „Eh? What's the matter, bone-bro?" the cyborg asked and Brook yohoho-ed back.

„It always fascinates me that I can feel a stomach ache even though I don't even have one! Yohohoho!" the man with the afro laughed and Franky frowned.

„You're right, bro. I've a bad stomach ache at the moment too. Probably from the gas, right? Let's try to not worry about it."

The rest of the crew, excluding Luffy and Sanji, agreed. „Yeah, me too! I feel like throwing up.." Usopp said, gulping.

Even Zoro admitted that his stomach hurt and he even got a slight idea why. But he didn't want to say it out loud and was silent.

Luffy, who happened to hear the whole conversation between his crewmates, went even more pale than before. Okay, he himself was probably the only one of the crew who didn't have a stomach ache. But that wasn't the reason for his worry.

Luffy just had realized why his crew had a stomach ache! It was because of _him_! It must have been his burnt breakfast! Dang... he had made his own nakama sick...

The black-haired teen bit his lip as guilt crashed down on him mercilessly. He had to admit that he really really sucked as a cook... although he hadn't found the breakfast too bad...

But the strawhat teen didn't have the courage to tell his nakama that it was his fault they felt sick and tried to push the depressing thoughts aside.

The heat in the volcano seemed to rise and Zoro was not the only one to notice as sweat ran down his forehead.

„Guys!" Nami whispered and broke the tensed silence, getting the rest of the crew's attention, „ We need to get outta here as quick as possible!"

„Why?" was the simple answer from Usopp. Sure, he wanted to leave this hell fast too but Nami surely had a good reason to sound that disstressed.

„Don't you feel the slight shaking of the ground every now and then? And the heat is rising! Look at those holes in the ground, more gas seems to stream out!" Nami murmured back, concern laid in her voice which worried the crew.

Robin nodded as she looked around, seeming in thoughts as she did. „Navigator-san is right." she only said.

„But Nami, what does this tell us? Is anything bad going to happen?" Luffy then asked with the innocence of a seven-years-old, not getting what the others was bothering. Franky and Zoro both groaned, even they had realized what Nami was trying to tell them.

But the orange-haired woman was too worried and tensed at the moment to get angry and so she just turned wide-eyed to Luffy and whispered: „The volcano just decided to wake up again!"

What that meant didn't have to be explained any further to Luffy – even he got the picture now and widened his eyes. „Uh-oh..."

„Eh... bro's and sis', I don't wanna disturb you or anything but furry-bro here decided to take a nap." Franky said as he looked at the little reindeer that was out cold.

„What? Shit, Chopper!" all eyes immediately went to the little reindeer who looked utterly exhausted. But who could blame the little one, after all the gas and the heat weakened him the most.

„I think doctor-san is okay... more or less." Robin said, face pale. The gas really drained hers, Brooks and Luffy's energy a lot.

„More or less?" Usopp asked in worry.

„Yes, he will be okay if we get out of here quick.." Robin added, coughing.

Usopp didn't need to ask any more, the sniper didn't want to know what would happen to Chopper if they stayed here in this unbearable heat and with all the strange gas around any longer.

The long-nosed teen's eyes wandered around in slight panick. There must be something to help them getting out again! Suddenly, Usopp's glance stopped.

Why hadn't he thought of that any earlier? It would be so easy to get rid of the ties!

Usopp didn't even tell the others about his idea as he suddenly just shouted Sanji's name. Everyone turned to the teen with the curly hair in wonder, including Sanji and Arch who had been about to fight again.

„Eh? Usopp?" Sanji frowned while blinking at his friend. Usopp tried to hide his grin but Sanji caught it and felt that the sniper just got an idea. „What is it?" Sanji unconsciously asked again, a little anger was to be heard in his voice. Sanji wanted to keep on fighting and not have a little chat with Usopp now! What could be so important?

Arch frowned deeply wondered what this Usopp wanted to say, keeping an eye on his opponent. This was... suspicious.

„Usopp...?" Nami murmured, was the longnose out of his mind? Why disturbing Sanji now? Usopp should talk to them and not to their captain while he was in the middle of a fight! By the way, if Usopp had a plan then Nami wanted to be the first one to be informed!

But the clever sniper just ignored the others and focused on Sanji who looked clueless.

„Sanji! Be careful with those test tubes! Don't let them hit you again, look at your face, it's all cut!" Usopp yelled and Arch looked dumbstruck at the sniper. Was that all the teen had to say?

'Heh, probably too scared to do anything else than crying.' The insane guy thought to himself as his smirk returned and he turned back to his enemy he had to kill: Sanji.

Sanji on the other hand first was at least as graveled as Arch by Usopp's strange behaviour. The moment Sanji inhaled to shout at the long nosed teen in anger Sanji got the – more or less – hidden message.

The man with the curled eyebrow inwardly slapped himself, then he narrowed his eyes at Usopp.

„Shaddap, you fool! I know how to fight and don't need you to tell me that shit!" he yelled, trying as best as he could to sound real. Then he gave the slightly puzzled Usopp a short look that clearly meant 'I got it' and turned back to Arch.

Mentioned man didn't even seem to have noticed the slight thoughts exchange between Sanji and Usopp and wanted to attack again, pulling out another test tube.

Sanji sighed in slight annoyance and went back into fighting mode. 'Or more _dodging_ mode,' the blond captain thought.

A slight grin spread across Usopp's face and the rest of the crew looked at him with weird expressions.

„What the hell Usopp?" Zoro mumbled in slight irritance – the fact that the ero-queen had understood Usopp's message and he not pissed him off to no end.

The sniper sighed, turning to his confused crew mates. Only Robin seemed to understand what Usopp had tried to tell Sanji and she smiled her typical mysterious smile.

„Don't you get it? The glass! We can cut these ropes with the shattered glass of the test tubes!" The teen with the black curly hair explained while grinning at his brilliant idea. The other's face's brightened.

„Usopp, you're amazing!" Nami squealed in joy and followed the sniper's glance to the broken glass on the ground.

„ I know, I know." Usopp smiled, „So that's why I tried to tell Sanji he should dodge a few more test tubes that will shatter on the ground – the more glass the better! And look at the first test tube's glass, it's shattered into thousands of pieces, too small to cut the ropes with it. Really intelligent of me, isn't it?"

„Yes yes, we all greatly appreciate it." Franky praised the sniper who started babbling about 'the awesome Captain Usopp is really intelligent'. Franky rolled his eyes at that, although he had to admit that the plan was really good.

„So, let's wait for the next test tube that falls to the ground and then one of us crawls towards it and tries to get rid of these ties!" Nami said, searching for a volunteer.

„I'll do it, don't worry." Luffy said with a cracking voice. The rest of the crew frowned a little.

„Luffy, you're weak enough. Let me do it." Usopp whispered back. Luffy, as well as Robin and Brook, looked ready to fall unconscious the next moment.

„I will do it." Luffy repeated, this time with more force, „Cook's orders." He then added, completely serious. The others could only sigh at that.

If Luffy used that kind of tone then no one could argue with him. 'This stubborn idiot...' shot through Zoro's head but he kept silent. The last thing they needed right now was an argument.

The following minutes numerous of test tubes fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. The crew watched while holding their breaths, searching for a piece of glass that looked big and sharp enough to cut ropes.

Arch still didn't notice Sanji intentionally dodged the test tubes that were aimed at his face. God he felt so silly at the moment, ducking his head away from a few goddamn, frigging _test_ _tubes_.

'Test tubes, what a scary weapon...' Sanji thought as the whole situation began to really piss him off. But there was no other way, he definitely needed more time to defeat that crazy guy with his fucking test tubes.

Plus, Sanji had noticed the slight earth quakes. Sanji needed to make sure his crew got out of here as soon as possible! The ground was slightly shaking under his feet, but Arch was too caught up in his insance act to even notice. Somehow, Sanji pitied that guy.

Finally, a test tube that just missed Sanji's head shattered into a few pieces that looked big enough to cut through a tie. Sanji looked at the shattered test tube for a second, then his glance wandered to Usopp who gave him an invisible 'thump up' and a wink.

Then Sanji knew it was time to fight again, and he once again glared at Arch. So, now he didn't need to dodge anymore – now it was time for his plan. Simple, but helpful.

Arch narrowed his eyes at the other blond, not liking the look the other was wearing. Something was telling him he had overseen something important, but Arch didn't know what! It made him furious and he growled in blind anger.

Arch alias Al'tera had another test tube in his hand, this time Sanji was sure there couldn't be only water in it.

„You damn brat, I will wipe that stupid expression outta your ugly face!" Al'tera shrieked and Sanji had to admit that he found this guy somewhat creepy, but he didn't flinch upon Arch's words.

Sanji noticed something moving near him and threw a quick glance into the direction. There was Luffy, all tied up and panting like a dog, moving forwards to the shattered glass.

Sanji bit his lip, now Arch shouldn't notice Luffy too! Sanji had to kick the guy's ass right now!

Arch himself had an insane expression, the object with some chemical liquid in his hand, ready to throw at Sanji.

Suddenly – the whole crew plus Sanji gasped at that – Arch let out a battle cry and jumped into Luffy's direction.

Luffy's eyes widnened and he stopped, gasping.

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Soo, I hope you all enjoyed reading! =) It's getting exciting, isn't it? Lol at least I hope so^_^ And I'm so sorry for yet another cliffhanger! And, being mean, the next chapter's coming as soon as I get a few reviews!**

**So please please tell me what you think of this chapter! Every single review is greatly appreciated! =D**

**Ja ne :3**


	9. Trust

**Hey guys! An update! Finally! Missed me? Well, I'm really sorry for NOT UPDATING the past two weeks! I was on my graduation trip in Prague and lots of things to learn for school, so I didn't really have time to write. Sorry again, and to make up for the long wait, this chapter is going to be an extra exciting one (at least I hope so lol) :3 Hope you will still stick with this story, thanks to those who still read this. **

**And a ****s**_**pecial**____**thanks**_** to those who left a review! It cheered me up ya know! Thank you guys! ;D**

**Anime lover 3593: Sorry, a cliffi again...^^'' Thanks ;) hmm sorry if that wasn't described proberly, but I really had no idea how to do so.**

**ruby890 : Thank you! ;)**

**HappyGirl282: Hi there! :) Wow thank you for telling me this ;D Really, you think so? Thank you, that's a very nice compliment! :D Ah well, I guess you will find out about this all this chapter^^ sorry it took me long this time to update! Oh and also thanks for faving me and this story! =D**

**Thanks again you three! *bows and offers cookies* ;3**

**Also thanks to those who faved this story!**

**To those who didn't review: It's okay, but reviews always cheer me up you know^^ And if you didn't like a chapter then it's perfectly fine to tell me what you didn't like, you know? But anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece! Oda-sensei is the owner! **

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter 9 – Trust**

The ground suddenly gave another eruption and a few stones broke from the wall and fell to the ground. The lava in the small holes on the ground seemed to boil, even more gas seemed to rise up itno the air. The atmosphere there had changed and Nami now was deadly sure the volcano was going to explode or something.

One thing they now learned for sure: It was too dangerous to stay were they were anymore. But despite the shaking ground and the lout grumbles the volcano itself seemed to let out, everyone's attention was somewhere else. On Sanji and Arch, but mostly on Luffy.

The strawhat teen gasped loudly, unable to do anything else than widening his eyes. His vision was already blurry and he only could make out a shadow dashing towards him like a madman, a strange blinking object in his hands.

Luffy could hear his nakama frantically shouting, sounding as if something really, really horrible was about to happen... Luffy couldn't think straight. But then, there wasn't really any time to do so.

The next thing Luffy knew was that another person suddenly appeared in front of him and shield him from this beserker. And that was when his own heart seemed to stop. This couldn't be.

All of sudden everyone present in this cave sharply inhaled in horror upon what they saw and for a few seconds no words were spoken.

Then, the terrible and tense silence was broken by a single but an incredible loud and desperate shout that seemed to shake the stone walls of the volcano even more than the eruption itself.

„S-SANJI!" The scream echoed through the cave like place they were in and no one was able to say or do anything beside than staring in shock.

„Stupid r-rubber b-brain... heh.." Sanji coughed, his attempt to lit a cigarette failed badly as it fell out of his shaking hands onto the ground. Sanji followed immediately, he collapsed to his knees, panting like a dog.

„N-no way..." Nami had to look away and clutched her eyes tightly shut. She had troble not to cry in the progress.

The sight they got was horrible to say the least. Sanji's whole face was covered in a strange liquid mixed along with blood. The red crimson dripped to the floor, forming a small but growing pool. Sanji was kneeling on the dusty ground, not seeing up to his enemy, his back to Luffy as he tried to not faint.

„Y-you stupid FOOL!" Luffy's voice beamed through the air as the cook couldn't quite believe what just had happened. His mind was still registering. Sanji, his former cook and current captain, had jumped in front of him and PROTECED him!

Sanji risked his life in the progress, just for him! His captain looked horrible! Just because Luffy wasn't strong enough to get rid of those weird ropes himself! Luffy ... felt more than ashamed … he felt completely weak and useless.

„No..." he murmured, feeling his lip beginning to tremble. This couldn't be. It must be a nightmare. This couldn't be happening at the moment, right? Please...

Luffy bit his lip again but this time it wasn't out of an old habit, it was because he tried to keep himself from actually crying. Why did everyone always have to protect him? He had always needed to be protected by his two older brothers, Ace and Sabo. After the two had left Luffy madly began to train, giving himself almost no break.

The black-haired boy felt he had to do this, he had wanted to left that weakling crybaby-himself from earlier behind himself forever. Luffy had wanted to be someone else, someone strong! Someone who could change the world and break through every wall , all by himself! Luffy never wanted to feel weak again … but now the seventeen-year-old felt that way again, weak and helpless ... and it was a terrible feeling.

„It- it's not ..!" Luffy stuttered, not finishing his sentence as he glared at both Sanji and Arch. Mentioned enemy was giving them the biggest smirk ever, grinning like he had just won a huge prize.

Sanji weakly smiled to himself, not seeing the expression on Luffy's face as he was sitting with the back towards the cook. Then Sanji coughed up some blood which shocked Luffy even more. The nineteen-year-old seemed badly affected by this strange liquid... which should have hit HIM! NOT Sanji...! How could this all even have come this far...?

Sanji himself only continued to smile, face bloody and pale, as his hands were gripping the dust on the ground, shaking a bit. He inwardly was having a battle with himself. One part of his mind was squeaking and ringing its alarm bells to not stand up and quit continuing to fight. It was pressing him to just let his eyes fall closed and slump to the ground to rest.

The other part, the one Sanji was desperately trying to support, fought against the first part. It wanted to keep on kicking this idiot and finally stand up! It kept on shouting at Sanji to get a hold of himself and beat the scumbag without showing any mercy!

Sanji coughed again and some more blood dripped onto the dry ground. Arch kept on smirking and suddenly began to step nearer, a dangerous glow was to be seen in his green eyes.

„Noo! Damn it all to hell, someone _do something_!" Nami shouted distraughtly. She was struggling to get free from this damn ties around her, that kept on restraining Nami from helping her nakama! And, much to everyone's distress, another rough shake occured, signaling the soon volcanic eruptionn.

The others did more or less the same, struggling, moving around, twisting. But it was useless, these strange ties seemed too strong and only got tighter the more they moved! The seven nakama felt like suffocating! But they had to help Sanji and needed to get out of this place as quick as possible! What could they do? This insane Arch surely would pull out another poison-shit-test-tube and try to kill their _captain_!

„Luffy! Move your ass!" Usopp all of sudden burst out, nearly crying as he was too frustrated by not being able to help.

„You will die, baby face." Arch murmured, completely ignoring the rest of the strawhat crew as he only focused on Sanji.

„I will put that ugly smile outta your face! Har har har!" There he went again, along with his weird laugh. It sounded creepy and combined with the way Arch's voice echoed through the cave-like area it sent shivers down the sniper's and Franky's spine.

Someone had to put a stop at this... Sanji was about to fall unconscious and who knew what kind of acid Arch had thrown into the poor blonde's face … and what he would throw next! This all was crazy, way too crazy to be real! If you told someone about this it would sound more like some kind of sick game.

Meanwhile, Luffy still was trying to pull himself together but he was just too overstrained with the whole situation. Staring wide-eyed at the back of his _captain_, he could still see the blood around Sanji on the ground. It was Luffy's fault. HIS fault! Luffy felt he was responsible for all this shit!

The strawhat boy managed to finally close his mouth and clenched his teeth so hard it made his jaw hurt. Such a weakling he was, lying on the ground with his hands and legs tied … what kind of nakama was he anyways?

Luffy really hated it if someone … needed to protect him. And he couldn't stand it if that _someone_ was one of his nakama... one of the people _he _ had gathered around himself on his own...

'That's... that is...' Too much. Too much for Luffy at once, he had never been someone to predict things far in future, so this all hit him hard. And finally made him practically explode.

„That's NOT how it is supposed to be, damn it all! ! !" Luffy screamed with all of his might, shocking most of the strawhat crew and mostly Arch himself. Mentioned enemy flinched visibly and his ugly smirk fell, instead a pissed off expression was to be seen.

Nami gripped her own shirt tightly as there wasn't anything else near her hand to grip, watching both Sanji and Luffy closely. She frowned a little, for a moment forgetting about the mad volcano.

„L-Luffy...?" Usopp blinked in surprise, murmuring his name as he didn't dare to get his friends' attention at the moment. Luffy really seemed pissed off to no end.

Franky blinked as well, not sure what to do else. „Eh..? Strawhat-bro."

Sanji began to frown, dark shadows under his eye(s) as he turned his head around, and coughed again. „Wha...? Luffy! You dumba-" the blond-haired man started somewhat bad-tempered but was roughly cut off in mid-sentence.

„No! I'M not the dumbass! Look at you, you moron! It's MY place you are kneeling in!" Luffy madly barked back and quickly rolled around towards the shattered glass beside Sanji. Luffy didn't give a damn whether there had been some poisonous liquid in it before and ignored the shouts he got from his nakama, including Sanji.

The blonde captain tried to push Luffy away but failed miserably as the cook was too determined and too much caught up in his rage to even notice Sanji anymore. Then the black-haired boy with the scar under his eye tried to press down onto the shattered pieces of glass on the ground with all of his weight. The strawhat teen continued to do so, lifting his back were his hands were tied behind, let himself fall down on the ground again and continued to rub onto the dusty ground and the glass until his arms were bleeding. Luffy was very quick by doing this and the crew silently cheered for him.

Sanji, still panting as he tried to clear his vision, frowned deeply and made a few attempts to push Luffy away from the glass but found the weird burning liquid drained a lot of his energy. Not only that, the poor blonde felt sick. He felt as if he'd just caught a high fever and felt hot, too hot than normally. Rubbing at his eyes again, Sanji silently cursed this Arch and his damned poisonous liquids, whatever they were.

Arch Meldowin first was only staring at the two in wonder before he finally realized what Luffy was up to. He shrieked a little as realization hit him and he jumped forwards. This time he didn't even have a test tube but only his hands with long, claw-like fingernails.

„Sanji, Luffy, attention!" Robin called, looking utterly exhausted by now. Now wonder, there was too much of that weird gas around for anyone to breath proberly, and unfortunately the devil fruit user were the one who were affected the most.

Sanji quickly lifted his head and gazed with half-opened eyes at their enemy who was about to attack again and gasped. Shit! Sanji then tried to push himself up onto his legs but they were so shaky all of sudden! What … kind of acid was this he had on his face? And it was still burning like hell, too! It felt as if he head kissed a cactus! Thousand of needles seemed to pierce his face, and blood continued to drip onto the ground. Sanji couldn't help but wonder what he looked like at that moment … surely terrible.

„You dumb children! I will eleminate you at once!" the crazy chemist shouted in his madness . Then he went for Sanji's face again, his claws only cutting the air as the blonde barely managed to dodge in time.

„Eleminate? I'm surprised you have a little knowledge of advantage English and I don't want to crush your arrogance, but it's called ' eliminate', dumbass!" Sanji quickly spat out of reflex, pissing Arch off to no end.

Sanji then decided to buy Luffy some time. He had just realized that he couldn't win on his own, acting like a captain who didn't need his crew to fight. But Sanji needed them, as well as Luffy had needed his nakama to fight when he was still captain.

The ground shook again, this time with more force, and the heat seemed to rise even more. Nami , Brook and Usopp shrieked quietly, this was getting more and more creepy.

Now there was definitely no time to be a hero anymore. Luffy needed to get rid of the ties to free the crew, then they maybe could flee safely from this creepy place.

Luffy's eyes flackered up to Sanji and the black-haired one narrowed them. The older of the two slightly raised his curly brow, then he got what Luffy was trying to tell him.

For a moment, Sanji didn't manage to do anything. There was so much lying in that single glance, so much force, determination, confidence and _truth_ in that eyes of his former captain.

Sanji understood what Luffy meant.

A good captain didn't just do what he wanted to do, always ordering his or her crew around and act so highly. To be a good captain meant to work _together_ with the own crew to beat the enemy.

Arch suddenly made a quick movement, Sanji froze in his movements in shock and only saw a long fingernail being aimed straight at his face. But instead of his eye being pierced out by the claw of the insane guy, Al'tera alias Arch was pushed back. Well, 'pushed' wasn't the right word here, 'forcefully hit' fitted much better there.

„Luffy..!" Sanji only managed to stutter, this time it was the cook's turn to save the other's butt, and Luffy had just in time managed to free himself of the ties.

The cook himself didn't look good either, but not as bad as Sanji with his bloody face and ragged breath. Luffy was standing in front of the blonde, blood was running down both his forearms from where he had been rubbing against the glass to cut the ties. Obviously, Luffy had succeed.

„Luffy!" the crew cheered, finally the situation had turned better for them! Maybe they actually would manage to get out of that place in time... but they had to hurry, otherwise lava would burn them all. .. But first they needed to take care of Arch!

„Little bastard." Sanji murmured as he shook his head while smiling a little – only a little- , then he sighed reliefed. For a second there, he had thought he'd lose his eye … ugh, the stuff in his face really burnt!

„Ouch, you bastard!" Arch cursed loudly, wiping the blood from his hurting nose away. Then he stood up and glared at the two, ready to fight any opponent who dared to touch his isle!

Both Luffy and Sanji could clearly see the mad light flackering in Arch's eyes, and they knew that this Al'tera was ready for anything, even killing them all. There was no way Arch would understand or talk to them in a calm way, they had to beat him quickly.

„Great, guys! Now hurry and kick his butt, we have to get outta here!" Nami warned again, her voice sounding slightly panicked.

„Sure, myyy amazing Nnnnami-swaaaaaan~!" Sanji immediately answered even though he was still kneeling on the ground, bleeding and exhausted.

„AYE!" Luffy shouted back, and, being a little poser, cracked his knuckles. Then he coughed, feeling his lungs burn as if he had swallowed lots of seawater combined with the lack of oxygen. Okay, if he had to be honest, then he would admit that he didn't feel like fighting at all. But that just had to be done.

„You have to be quick, guys! Or we won't make it … oh gosh, poor Usopp-sama dying such a dishonorable death!" the long-nosed teen dramatically gasped, his legs clasping against each other in fear. The others rolled their eyes, even Arch joined, but Luffy didn't. He laughed slightly.

„Shishishi! Baka Usopp! As if we'd die in here! Since when did something like this stop us?" Luffy grinned, and although he looked really pale he seemed to cheer the others up with his grin. „Just leave it to Sanji and me!" he said, smiling as he had his hands on his waist.

Sanji watched their nakama's reaction closely. Then the captain had to smile a litte as the he noticed the crew looked a little more confident, especially Usopp. Yeah, the atmosphere in there had changed as well.

„Nami, what about the others?" Usopp suddenly asked the navigator, sweating in disstress.

„Huh? Who do you mean?" Nami stuttered back as her glance now was resting upon the sniper.

Brook nodded slowly, even he was badly affected by the damn gas and it seemed to get worse. „ The other people who had been here before … his so-called 'nakama'.." Brook explained, „We have to save these poor people... and I'll do it if you show me your pan-"

„LIKE HELL! You damned pervert, even in a situation like this!" Nami burst out in her rage, her face getting red like a tomato. Then she inhaled deeply and added: „But I agree with you in the first part, we have to get them out of here as well." and as they felt the ground shake slightly again and a few pieces of stones fell from above, she said almost too calm: „Zoro, your part."

The swordsman, who had been quiet for most of the time and concentraded on the other two fighitn against Arch, twitched visibly at that comment. „The hell, you stupid orange?" he grumbled, didn't really argue in the point that they needed to rescue the inhabitans, but rather with the part that Nami was bossing him around yet again.

Nami ignored the lame insult of an 'orange', and just glanced back at Arch and the other two. 'Hurry, Luffy, Sanji...'

„So? Now are both of you weaklings fighitng against me or what?" the man who called himself the head of the island barked, fists clenched tightly by his side. Fine, he had no problem with that! They wouldn't stand a chance against him any way!

Luffy didn't even bother to look at his captain and just growled back:" I'm fighting you, you bastard! C'mon, bring it on!" he had enough of this ugly visage of Arch and just wanted to get outta here!

But before Arch even could respond to this, Luffy looked surprised as he suddenly felt a hand rest on his shoulder. The strawhat teen at once recognised the owner of this hand.

„Luffy," Sanji said in a surprisingly calm tone and Luffy turned his head around to face the captain. Sanji really was a mess, his clothes was dusty and a few drips of blood could be seen onto it. Sanji's face was full of bleeding cuts and the one visible eye was red from the liquid. The hand upon Luffy's shoulder was slightly trembling, not because Sanji was scared or something but just because of the lack of energy.

Luffy wanted to cut Sanji off once again, but Sanji was faster and continued firmly. „Luffy, I know what you wanted to tell me about being a good captain earlier - to fight together with the nakama to beat the enemy and that stuff." Sanji said and Arch and the rest of the crew (excluding Luffy who once knew what Sanji was talking about).

Luffy knitted his brows together in slight irritation, what was Sanji going to tell him with that? The blonde continued firmly but softly and that, what he said caused Luffy to bite his lip.

„But being a good nakama means to trust your captain." Sanji said. Luffy nibbled onto his already abused bottom lip again, avoiding the older's glance as he looked onto the ground. Luffy knew Sanji was right. And he also realized what Sanji was talking about.

Sanji not only said that Luffy had to trust him. It was also meant as a reproach against himself, beside Luffy none of the crew seemed to notice.

„But you can't fight li-" Luffy stopped abruptly, blinking slightly. 'You can't fight like this. Look at your condition.' he had wanted to say, but the words were caught up in his throat. It was funny, now he not only sounded exactly like his nakama when they had told him not to overdo it in a fight. But Luffy also reminded himself of all the people who had doubt him, who had said Luffy was too weak, too small, too thin to even become a pirate.

Luffy sounded like them, like those kind of people with the wrong attitude. He had never wanted to be like that, and now there he was.

Sanji only smiled knowingly and Luffy let out a frustrated growl, before his glance went to Arch who was still in his fighting position, glaring at them.

„You sissies! Come on, come on!" Arch pressed, obviously not wanting to attack them both at once. What a coward he was, but they had known that from the very beginning.

Then Luffy inhaled deeply, coughing in the progress, his fists clenched so tightly that his hands shook. It made Sanji wonder if Luffy wasn't about to fully explode or something as he watched the other's trembling shoulders.

Suddenly, the seventeen-year-old boy lifted his head abruptly and gave Arch a look that clearly promised nothing good for the arrogant man and Arch widened his eyes a bit. Luffy gave him the creeps as he glared at him that way and it made Arch's legs shake a little, even though he tried to control it.

Even the others felt the force behind that glare and shut up for a moment to watch Luffy with half-opened mouths. Sanji blinked a bit irritated at the younger one before him and wondered how Luffy was able to shoot such a powerful look. Surely the younger one wanted to fight with Arch … Luffy was so stubborn!

But much to the blonde's surprise, Luffy turned around and smiled at him. Only a little, but it was a smile and Sanji blinked again. Luffy didn't say anything first, then he passed Sanji with the words murmured: „ Go for it, captain."

Sanji first gaped at Luffy, after that his lips unconsciously formed a smile. Then he shot around to Arch who got too confused by this whole situation and slowly but surely regarded the complete strawhat crew as simply _creepy_.

„Okay then! Now it's time for me to kick your ass to the moon!" Sanji said, a smirk upon his lips as he finally managed to control his shaking hands and lit a new cigarette.

Yep, definitely a good start for a successful fight.

YXYXYXYXYXYXY

…**. I swear, I'm like Eiichiro Oda. I always pull a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter O.o … sorry for that! I will update quicker than last time, probably at the weekend or next week. **

**Anyways, I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I put much effort into this one! So tell me what you think about it please ;D Reviews are always appreciated! **

**Until next time! :3**


	10. The fight is over

**Well, I haven't had much time to update, sorry. I know it is annoying, and I have to apologize for that. **

**Thanks so much to the two reviewers!**

**HappyGirl282:**** :D Aw do you reall think so? Thank you for this awesome review, it makes me so happy to hear that! ;) But I'm so sorry for not updating earlier, I've been so busy with school recently.**

**Anime lover 3593****: No problem :) I know these kind of situations too well. You think so? Thanks a lot! Yup he did, but the story plays before the time skip, so he won't use it intentionally. Haha great you liked it, thanks for pointing it out! It's great for authors to know some parts were especially liked by readers :) Domo Arigatou for this cool review!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter 10 – The fight is over**

„So what are you going to do, weakling? Look at you, it is surprising you are still able to stand!" Arch barked and, despite the fact he really looked confident, was everything but sure of himself.

Actually, the tall man began to feel really insecure. Arch clenched his fists in his anger. He didn't like the way things were turning out, this other crybaby had managed to free himself of his awesome strong ropes! How had he done that? Now the black-haired baka would be able to help the rest of their nakama! Arch snuffled angrily, stomping with his feet on the ground like a little kid.

He then decided to kill Sanji as quickly as possible. 'There is no way an injured man like him could be able to defeat me now! I will finish him quickly, then this other freak with the strawhat! I guess I will leave the rest of those losers here, looks like the volcano is going to erupt soon. It will wipe them away without any problems! It's so easy for me to win!' Confidently, the tall man's lip went from the one ear to the other as he gave the rest of the world a nice smirk.

„Sanji!" Luffy called, not even bothering to look into Sanji's direction as he dashed straight towards his nakama.

The blond captain got the message and inhaled some of the his cigarette's smoke. It calmed him a bit and helped to get rid of those awful gases around. It maybe wasn't that much healthier than the gases from the volcano, but at least Sanji didn't feel like suffocating anymore.

Then the young man shot a glare into Arch's direction, showing him he was ready to finish what they had begun.

Arch however didn't pay attention to Sanji's actions and watched Luffy trying to free the rest of the crew.

„Luffy, hurry up! Don't you feel the shaking? It's going to erupt soon!" Nami panicked a little, struggling once again to get rid of those ties as Luffy finally managed to bite some of Zoro's ropes off. The others blinked a bit surprised at this rough method but didn't comment on it. All that mattered was that Zoro was free now, even though Luffy had bitten him a few times.

„Luffy, you...!" Zoro grumbled, rubbing the areas on his arms were you could see some nice biting marks.

Luffy laughed. „Oooops! Gomen, Zoro!" Then he hurried over to Usopp and began to bite off his ties while the sniper was inwardly praying to not getting bitten by the cook. By the hungry cook with the bottomless stomach who hadn't eaten in hours. But that was just a small and needless detail.

„Damn it guys! We still have to help the inhabitans out of this-" Franky couldn't finish his sentence as suddenly hot steam began to emit from the holes in the ground. „H-hot~!" he shrieked, learning how a roasted chicken over a grill must feel and suddenly felt sympathie for it. The cyborg bit his lip to keep himself from crying. A man shouldn't cry, especially in a situation like this. „Uncool!" Franky muttered.

Arch gasped as he watched everyone of the crew being freed, one by one. He wouldn't let them do as they please! They were still his prisoners, weren't they? He would make slaves out of them!

Meanwhile, Zoro and Usopp ran through the entrance and began to search for the drugged inhabitans. Arch alias Al'tera bit his lip and his blood began to boil.

'My plan. My wonderful wonderful plan. I have been working on that damned plan for years! And then those wannabe pirates show up and pull a show like that all of sudden! What. The. Heck! They destroy my stupid plan, dang it!' While Arch was having a silent conversation with himself about how they were ruining him and his fantastic plan, Sanji noticed Arch's hands pulling something out from under his clothes.

'Another test tube?' Sanji narrowed his eyes, all the steams and gases were troubling his eyesight. Wait. Steams?

„Ouch!" Sanji jumped a good half meter into the air, looking frantically around. There were actually lots of hot steams rising up from the ground! From the _shaking_ ground. Now that really meant trouble. He had to stop Arch now!

„Oi, toad face!" 'Yeah, Arch's attention is on me again.' Sanji silently congratulated himself for that insult that seemed to make Arch furious. The guy shot around, teeth clenching in his jaw.

„What!" Arch yelled. The man didn't know who he should kill first and was pretty pissed off by the fact that he didn't have the time for both. And this blond brat over there was getting on his nerves!

„What's that? You actually answer to the name of 'toad face'? Shady character you are." Uhhhh. That hit close to home. Now Arch must be explod-

„SCREW YOU!" The 'boss' of the island practically yelled, his face red as a tomato. Wow, who would have known Arch looked this hilarious with a red face? Honestly, he resembled an orc with the only difference that his face was dark crimson coloured.

Okay, now he was totally off topic. Sanji quickly shook his head. What was wrong with him? He felt really funny. And exhausted. And his face still hurt like shit! But he could never show his friends now, especially not Nami-swan and Robin-chwan!

Plus, the blond captain had promised Luffy he would take care of this guy. Sanji hadn't said it to the cook nor had they shook hands or something, but it was a simple yet meaningful silent promis the two had. Just an important promise between the captain and the cook who had switched places.

„Dang it you're getting on my nerves. I'm your opponent, not my crew. So finish what you've begun and bring it on!" Sanji smirked a little complacently at his strong sounding voice and shot an extremely arrogant look towards the insane man. Al'tera alias Arch all of sudden felt like a huge bomb, and he silently counted from ten till one, trying to calm down in the progress. Yup, now Sanji was ready to beat the bastard.

-X-Y-X-Y-

„Zoro, look!" Usopp called out, pointing at the crowd before them. The swordsfighter narrowed his eyes and stopped. The two of them had just run into the cave next to where Arch and the rest were.

So everyone of the inhabitants had just walked into this part of the volcano and stood there up until now? What the heck did Al'tera do to them to make them like zombies? Really, the bunch of people looked like machines! But Zoro already got an idea: Probably some kind of drug. Who knows what kind of pills and other stuff Arch mixed together in his blind insanity.

The young man with the green hair sighed as he unconsciously shook his head. Such a crazy guy. Hopefully the ero-coo- no, the ero-_ captain _(Zoro frowned at this, not liking to call Sanji thecaptain), would finish him soon so that they could leave this weird place as soon as possible, he didn't feel very comfortable. Even the atmosphere on this damned island seemed to be cursed.

„Let's get them out Usopp!" Zoro answered, already searching for an easy way out. Too bad he didn't have his katanas with him... wait! Where were his swords? He did have them back at Sunny, and while he was around with Luffy and Broo- ah! Zoro spotted his three important items leaning on a stone on the ground near the crowd. How had they gotten them? Really, if there was only one crack on them then-! Immediately he rushed towards them and checked them.

There wasn't even a scratch to be seen. Good. The strong man with the huge scar across his upper body sighed in relief, then he smirked. Turning around, he put Kuina's sword into his mouth, the other two were already in his hands.

The sniper, who had watched with curious eyes what Zoro was up to, gulped. Zoro plus his swords were scary. Zoro plus his swords and a stupid idea were really scary. But Zoro plus his swords, plus a stupid idea and something to cut were just plain CREEPY!

The long nosed teenager decided to hide behind one of the warriors who didn't even notice him and Zoro. Usopp didn't exactly know what his nakama was planning to do but it certainly would be dangerous. For him and anybody near Zoro.

Zoro noticed Usopp's behaviour and nodded, then he turned his back to the sniper and the crowd of people.

His mission was simple yet it wasn't as easy as it looked. If you looked up then there was nothing but blue sky and the stony edge of the volcano. The walls were too step to climb up, especially for the drugged inhabitants and the exhausted devil fruit users of the crew.

So the swordsexpert needed to cut them a way out. The nineteen-year-old had to slice a part off the stony edge away, that way it would be easier for them to climb out. Zoro needed to concentrate and put all his energy and strenght in that blow, even though it was difficult to breathe due to the immense heat and the gas around. But he was a strong man with an iron will and something like that would never stop him.

Closing his eyes, Zoro inhaled deeply, trying to relax a bit. Then he grumbled: „ Oni Giri!" and shortly after that a few huge pieces of stone fell down besides Zoro. Mentioned man didn't even flinch as some stones nearly hit him, he just put his swords back on his haramaki. Looking up, Zoro silently congratulated himself as he had fabricated a perfect escape way. Satisfied with his work, the first mate looked at the still not mentally present inhabitans.

„Usopp!" Zoro only said and the sniper at once understood.

„Right!" he responsed, guiding a few of the people to the escape route. The had to climb up a few meters but it wasn't impossible. The real opponent was the Time as another little earthquake shook the whole volcano. Zoro quickly helped the sniper to get the people up and bring them away from the mountain. It all was fast done, and soon all the people were out of the volcano. The two strawhats then hurried to bring the bunch of inhabitans to their ship.

„We need to hurry! There isn't much time left!" Zoro murmured, his white shirt was completely wet from all the sweat. Usopp was just sweating as much. The heat around the volcano had increased again and soon this wouldn't be the nicest place to stay. The swordsman and Usopp then half-jogged back with the people through the jungle.

While passing lots of dead looking plants and places that could have been lakes before Arch landed, Zoro couldn't help but wonder how the rest of the crew was doing, especially Sanji.

After all, even if this Arch didn't look that special or strong, he was actually pretty skilled and shouldn't be underestimated. The blond string-bean better be careful.

**-Y-X-Y-X-**

„Collier Shoot!" Sanji shouted, jumping high into the air and kicked Arch full-power into the neck. Mentioned man was taken aback from that sudden move, gasped and his eyes widened to its max. Al'tera could have sworn he had heard a loud crack in his neck as he was smashed against the wall.

Painting loudly, he staggered back to his feet, narrowing his eyes at the captain. This was weird. Were did all this power come from? From where did this blondie take all the energy? Hadn't he gotten acid into his face? It was supposed to drain his strenght! Damn drug didn't work, huh?

But he's still bleeding and looked ready to collapse, so maybe..?

'Maybe I can still win!' Arch thought self-confidently, patting against his own breast, feeling as strong as Hercules. He was Arch Meldowin, one of the best, no, THE best marine chemist worldwide, there was absolutely no one who could beat him with silly tricks and kicks! Right?

As Arch wanted to lift his hand to throw something at Sanji, the blonde captain instinctively dodged and kicked his opponent into the stomach. Arch groaned in pain and spit out some blood, falling down onto his butt. For a moment, Arch's vision blurred a bit.

„Damn you ass!" He cursed, wiping the blood away from his mouth as he shot back up again. But then he all of sudden stumbled a little and needed to lean against the next wall not to collapse. Actually, the kicks of that wannabe captain hurt a lot.. Sanji couldn't help but feeling proud of himself upon seeing the crazy scientist wobble.

Arch rubbed his head and tried to make the dizziness go away. What was wrong with him? The stupid blondie couldn't have hurt him that bad, could he? Anyways, he had to use his secret wapon now! Otherwise that curly dartboard would really beat him...!

Sanji didn't want to waste any more time than neccessery and jumped towards Arch to give him a nice beating into the stomach again. But this time his opponent was more carefully than before and half-stumbled, half-jumped out of the way. Then Arch lifted his hand and threw a round item into Sanji's direction.

The nineteen-year-old could hear the cries of shock from his nakama and gasped in surprise. He wanted to dodge, but found his exhausted body didn't listen to him and didn't move. That's why the round thing hit Sanji directly onto the right shoulder and, much to the crew's horror, exploded loudly. For a short amount of time a dark thick cloud was around the blond captain.

Sanji screamed in shock and pain, fell to the ground and touched his bleeding face. Damn, it really hurt! What the.. hell.. was that..? A mini bomb? The hell? Ugh!

The blonde strawhat captain was shaken by a rough coughing fit. Blood spluttered to the dry ground and he groaned, grabbing his arm. Some pieces of the bomb had pierced his skin and his shoulder really hurt a lot. Soon, Sanji's hatress and anger for Arch rose steadily and he desperately tried to push himself back to his feet.

„Sanji! You alright?" Some of his crew shouted. Sanji shot a short glance at his nakama and was more than reliefed to see they were all free of those ties. Luffy had done a good job, surprisingly. But where were Zoro and Usopp?

Just as this question shot through Sanji's head, the long nosed sniper dashed around the corner, a bit out of breath. Immediately, all eyes went to Usopp in wonder, including Arch's.

„Eh? Usopp! What's the matter? Did you find the other people? Did you bring them out? Where's Zoro?" Nami blurted out at once, not giving the poor sniper a second to catch his breath as he was bombarded by questions. But just as the navigator, the sniper blurted out all answers at once, making it difficult for everyone to understand.

„Zoro sends me, he says we should get out here quick, the people are already on the way to our ship and now he's with them, awaiting us at the ship." he panted loudly, his hands resting on his knees. He had run all the way back from their ship to the volcano, all on his own so he couldn't avoid the slight shaking in his knees. Sweat dripped down Usopp's forehead and he wiped it away in reflex.

Arch however seized his chance as he took advantage of the situation to attack Sanji, who's eyes were on their sniper. Sanji, exhausted, hurt and too overhelmed at the moment, only saw the slowly widening eyes of his crewmates, then he felt the pain.

„Aargh!" the nineteen-year-old let out a scream of pain and clenched his eyes tightly shut. Grabbing his throbbing cheek, Sanji opened them again and looked back to his opponent who was about to hit him again. Sanji could manage to defend himself by blocking the hit with his right leg. Then Sanji jumped backwards, pushing Arch's fist away while doing so.

The 'boss' of the island got mad at Sanji for still fighting back and grumbled like an angry Rottweiler, baring his teeth. Sanji frowned a little at that weird action, Arch was getting more and more creepy. But it couldn't be helped, that guy had to be defeated!

But there was one thing Sanji couldn't deny: He was utterly exhausted. Panting in slight disstress, the blond haired man decided to follow the saying 'Attack is the best form of defence' and ran straight towards Arch. Just as he was about to prepare for a hard kick, his left leg gave out under his weight and he collapsed to the ground.

„Sanji!" Brook shrieked, this time not caring about calling more formal as he didn't use '-san' this time.

But the young man didn't even hear the skeleton. First, because the ground began to shake a lot and some piece of stones fell down. Second, because for a moment his ears had seemed to become deaf and he could only hear the ringing bells inside his head. They told him to stand up and make a run for it, but Sanji coldly ignored them, trying to focus on his enemy.

„Now now, baby face!" Arch teased while laughing in a dirty way and didn't hesitate to kick Sanji into the ribs. Sanji groaned and landed on the floor again, not opening his eyes as the tall man who called himself Al'tera continued to kick him. Arch seemed to be enjoying this, which pissed the strawhat crew off to no end.

„S-shouldn't we put a stop at this..? We have to help him!" Usopp said with shaking hands. It was hard to watch a friend of yours being beaten without doing anything. The sniper may be a cowards sometimes, but if the situation called for it you could rely on the sharpshooter. Usopp knew when to drop the mask of the scaredycat, and now was definitely the time for it.

„Oh gosh, we need to do something! Arch is going to kill him!" Nami grabbed her head as she forced herself to look away from the horrible scene. She couldn't stand watching this, but the beatings were still audible for her.

„Sanji-bro! Super-duper-Franky man is on the wa-!" The cyborg started, ready to hit Arch with his strong fist but Luffy jumped in between and caught Franky's fist before it could touch the enemy.

All attention on Luffy, the rest of the crew blinked at this. Even Arch stopped in his tracks and turned around to gasp. Sanji weakly opened one of his eyes, almost unable to see with all the blood on his face. He felt so weak, so useless. He had told Luffy he would beat the guy in less than two minutes, and now there he was...

„L-Luffy.." Sanji whispered, blinking to clear his vision. What was the cook up to? Why..?

Frankys expression turned from angry to pure shock and he immediately pulled his fist back. It was a surprise Luffy could still stand, he looked so pale. But his sharp eyes narrowed at Franky and the rest of the crew as they looked at him with shocked and questioning looks.

„Eh? Is your cook a complete idiot?" Arch questioned in all seriousness, not believing what just happened.

Robin didn't comment, she only watched with interest what would happen next, while Nami seemed ready to explode.

„Luuuffy, you damn baka! What on earth are you doing?" she shrieked at him but he only stared at her. The simple yet strong glance from Luffy managed to silence the angry navigator immediately.

„Don't interefence! It's his fight and he said he'd beat him! So stay out!" Luffy said, and Sanji could see his back tensing. But at the moment he didn't realize that, Sanji just gaped at the cook's little speech.

„L..Luffy.." Usopp murmured, getting what Luffy wanted to say.

„Stay out? Can't you see he's fu**ing _killing_ Sanji?" Nami gasped in disbelief. „What had gotten into you?"

Luffy first said nothing, then he smiled a little. „Do you really think a wimp like Archie could beat let alone kill our Sanji?"

Well, to say Nami and the others were speechless was an understatement. Really, what could she respond to that? Deep inside her she knew Luffy was right. It was funny how Luffy always knew what to do, just out of instinct.

Sanji gulped at the words of his ex-captain. So much trust laid in that words and it made him feel ashamed as he laid on the ground and letting himself kick by a wussy. By a completely _insane_ wussy.

„No." Luffy answered his own question with a smile and the crew knew there was no arguing with the cook. „Just trust our captain." he added calmly.

Bam. That words did it. Sanji bit his tongue, ignoring the iron taste of his own blood, and decided to stand up again. It would take him a lot of energy, but he would do it! Luffy was damn right, he wouldn't let himself getting defeated by a scientist from the marine!

Suddenly, Arch began to laugh like a maniac. Everyone's attention was on the man again. „Har har har! You finished with your small, cute speech? Good, may I continue now? It was getting boring for me and-" but the arrogant marine guy had no chance to finish his sentence as he recieved a powerful kick in the back.

The crew cheered and watched Arch fall to the ground. Sadly the guy stood up again, but he seemed pale and was bleeding. Anger was to be seen in Arch's eyes as they madly flackered into Sanjis direction.

„You frigging little-!" Arch began, „ You're useless! Look at you, without you, your crew could have escaped by now! How can they rely on someone dumb like you? You're giving up too easy and you can't even protect your own nakama!" Arch spat madly, and a tensed silence began to settle down. Sanji bit his lip, not knowing what to respond.

But then, Arch made a mistake in his blind rage. „What kind of captain are you anyways? Your poor crew, it must suck to have a captain like you! What a stupid crew you have to choose a captain like you!"

Sanji's own anger rose and he instantly kicked Arch directly into the face. A few teeth fell to the ground and Arch groaned, holding his jaw. But still, the chemist was standing.

„Argh! When does he finally collapse? He's getting on my nerves!" Nami complained, nibbling on her fingernails as she nervously watched the fight going on.

But then something got her attention and her head snapped up. The beautiful navigator looked around, feeling something.

„What is wrong, Nami?" Robin asked quietly, having problems to stand as her legs treated to give out.

„Th-the volcano! It's going to erupt!" Nami only whispered and although it was very very silent, everyone in the volcano caught it and gulped at her words. And just shortly after that, the mountain shook roughly and everyone fell to the ground. More steam and probably poisonous gases were in the air and it smelled like rotten eggs.

„Woah! !" Franky gasped, an unconscious Chopper in his arms. The shaking didn't stop and even Arch looked scared. But they definitely didn't have any time anymore, and that's why Sanji decided to beat Arch with his own weapons. The blonde captain, who laid on the ground as another earth quake followed, looked around and found what he was searching for. Sanji crawled a few meters forwards and grabbed something on the ground as he bit into his own lip not to scream in pain.

„So," he began weakly and Arch's head shot into his direction, „ I know I'm not the best captain, I'm probably the worst ever, but don't you blame my crew for that, bastard!" Sanji glared at Arch, continuing, „But now this fight is over! You'll never ever dare to lay a finger on my beautiful Nami and Robin again!"

With that, Sanji didn't even leave Arch enough time to wonder about that as he shot up and jumped towards the surprised Arch who didn't know what to do. He was too confused and overhelmed to even register what was happening and just stared at Sanji.

Mentioned captain didn't hesitate a second and pressed his hand with full force against Arch's face. The others were confused about Sanji's actions and had no idea what was happening. But Al'tera suddenly shouted out loud and grabbed his face in agony, spitting a few curses out.

„Yeah, now you know how it feels! It hurst, eh?" Sanji commented, then he inhaled deeply and swung his powerful leg at Arch who gasped at that. „Mouton Shoot!" was the last thing Arch heard after recieving the most strongest kick from Sanji that sent him flying. He cried out loudly and his world turned black.

„Bastard." Sanji commented, smirking. Then he turned to his crew and they quickly made a run for it, leaving the volcano behind. Franky carried both Chopper and Robin, Sanji was carrying his Nami-swan on his arms and called himself the luckiest man alive. But it didn't last long as the volcano behind them growled one last time, then it erupted as a dark cloud was to be seen above it. Hot lava streamed down from it's opening and the crew had to hurry.

„Iyaaaaaaa! The lava's coming!" Nami shrieked in horror, as pale as a sheet by now.

„Waaaaaah!" Usopp only cried, not looking were he is running to with his eyes shut in fear. This was just too much!

Luffy only laughed as they escaped, passing the jungle with all it's creepy plants as quickly as possible. The strawhat crew were fast runners, so in less than a minute the eight managed to reach the Thousand Sunny.

Zoro, who had watched the volcano erupting from the deck, had already hoisted the anchor and was ready to set out.

„Zoroo~!" Luffy called out, waving. Zoro sighed, seeing Luffy's carefree character breaking through all seriousness that had laid around the cook for the past hours, and shook his head.

„Hurry up you idiot." he answered as he scratched his head.

„Full speed ahead!" Luffy ordered as he was used to do and didn't notice Sanji's puzzled reaction. It was Sanji's job to say that, wasn't it? Okay, he had forgotten to say anything after just escaping an erupiting volcano, but still!

But the captain didn't say anything this time, it was an emergency after all. He shouldn't comment on that, it didn't matter at the moment.

Quickly, the crew jumped aboard and set sail, finally leaving the weird island behind. Soon the thick fog laid it's coat around the isle of poison, making it invisible for the pirates.

„W-we did it..." Usopp was the first one to break the silence as he had his hand over his fast bumping heart. What an adventure...! A crazy one, but it was not that he wasn't used to that by now.

„Yosh! And Arch was beaten, too!" Luffy said and managed a grin.

Meanwhile, Sanji was standing with his back towards the crew and stared out at the sea, litting a new cigarette. He suddenly noticed the silence behind him and turned around in wonder but was only met with smiles.

First the captain blinked, then a small smile spread across his face as well and he couldn't help but feel really proud of himself. He did it. He had saved his own crew! What a great feeling!

„Naami-swaan, Robin-chwaan, have you watched me beating that bastard? I did it just for you!" he said and danced like a perverted, making Robin laugh.

„You did a good job there, captain!" Nami praised as she leant against the mast in exhaustion.

But suddenly, Sanji collapsed to his knees and panted like a dog. The others rushed towards him.

„Sanji-san...!" Brook said, touching Sanji's shoulder in worry. The blonde weakly smiled back at the musician and nodded.

„Yeah I know... I need a rest." With that, the captain closed his eyes and fell forward.

**YXYXYXYXYXYXY**

**Sooo... yeah, Sanji beat Arch finally! Woot! =D**

**This was a bit longer than the last time to make up for the long wait. Now it's late and I'm tired, so I hope the things I wrote in this chapter aren't crap. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading! **

**Please leave a review! :)**


	11. Thoughts

**Hi guys, it's me (well who else would it be? :D) Hope you all didn't have to wait too long for this chapter, but I had LOTS of stuff to do for school, and then my inspiration was gone (is that a lame excuse? Sry :3 ) Today my vacation started, but I'll have to learn my butt off for the exams in two weeks, so there won't be much time to update either. Even though, I have lots of fun writing this so that's what I'll do in my spare time. Anyways, I FINALLY typed up this chapter and here ya go! =D**

**Honestly, all your reviews cheered me up a lot! I love them :) **

**HappyGirl282****: Sanji is awesome, isn't he? :D Well, for the zombie people all I can say is read and find out ;) and I guess there are going to be a few more chapters (I wouldn't have thought that I'd write more than ten chapters and here I go now xD) but I can't say for sure. Aw thanks a lot! That makes me really happy to hear ! :D**

**ruby890****: Thank you! ;)**

**Anime lover 3593****: Well, as I said before, I'm perfectly fine with criticism! I'm glad you told me what I could do better, I'll try ;) It's great you pointed out what you liked and what was not so good. Thanks :)**

**Thanks to you all, and now please enjoy this chapter number 11! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece in any way, nor it's characters! Just the lame plot, lol.**

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**Chapter 11 – Thoughts**

„Oi! Oi oi oi!" Sanji kept on shouting, and no matter what kind of thought came to his mind, he somehow wasn't able to say it out loud. What was that? He couldn't talk anymore? His throat seemed to be sore, so sore he couldn't speak proberly, just make weird noises. Why? What was going on? Sanji was blinking furiously and tried to clear his foggy mind, there were too many questions that needed to be answered.

He was walking around. It was a strange place. There were stones and rocks, nothing else. No tree or any other form of plant, no humans, no animals. Sanji couldn't even see a bug or any other insects, nothing! Nothing but dusty ground and lots of gray and boring rocks. Sanji's eyes traveled up to the sky, only to find nothing but dark clouds above him. No colours, just sad solitude.

What was that place? How did he get there? Sanji didn't understand. There were a lot of things he didn't understand. It was all so confusing, so weird, so irritating! And, on top of that, it was so irreal, Sanji doubt this was reality. Or was it? He couldn't tell. He tried to shout. He tried to breathe. The dusty ground was shaking and there was an ubelievable heat emitting from it, seeming to bring Sanji's blood to boil. He was gasping loudly, then there was a strange figure appearing. Why couldn't he move?

„_Good job. You did a very very good job there. Congratulations. You finished them off quickly." _

Sanji flinched at the cold and cruel tone of that voice. W-where did that come from? Frantically he began to look around himself but couldn't see anyone there.

„Who's there? What do you want?" Sanji was a bit taken aback as he finally could hear himself saying something again. That meant he could at least speak and wasn't speechless anymore.

The weird silhouette from before had disappeared into the thick fog. Mentioned clouds were beginning to lay themselves around Sanji's body, not letting go of it anymore. The captain's eyes widened and he thought he was suffocating, the lack of oxygen making it impossible for him to get some air into his screaming lungs.

The fog's grip around him was getting tighter and tighter the more he struggled against it. The heat increased, more cruel voices appeared in his head, beginning to drive him crazy.

„_Bad captain! Bad captain! Look what you did to them! Wrong choice! You've made a wrong choice!"_

„_It's your responsibility! Your fault!"_

„_Good job. Good job. Keep it up, you'll get rid of them easily."_

Sanji couldn't stand these mocking tones in his mind anymore and grabbed his head, shutting his eyes. He didn't want to see that ugly and depressing place anymore, didn't want to feel the heat and the lonliness anymore, nor the odd lumb that was beginning to form inside his heart, didn't want to hear those voices anymore.

To say this place and the entire situation was driving him crazy was a complete understatement! He just wanted one thing so badly right now: To get the hell away from there!

„Aaaaaaaaah!" Sanji gasped loudly, his one visible eye had widened to its max. He shot up, drenched in his own sweat. His heart was hammering madly against his rips, keeping his blood pressure high. Sanji's eyes darted through the room, taking everything in he saw. And after a few seconds, things were coming back to him and he realized what had happened. He'd had a simple yet frightening nightmare. The first one in a long time. In a really long time.

Sanji was in the doctor's room, laying in a very comfortable bed. No one was around, but Sanji could tell that they were waiting outside by the whispering sounds that were made. Hadn't they heard him shouting?

Suddenly, there was an almost timid knock on the door and soon after that Chopper went in, greeting him with a soft but slightly concerned smile. The captain couldn't shake the feeling off to soon get an awful tasting medicine from Chopper. Ugh, he hated that. Even though, Sanji forced himself to smile back. Inhaling deeply one more time, he noticed that he had somehow calmed down by now.

Sanji then realized how thirsty he was. Actually, he felt as if he'd been in the driest desert worldwide for weeks. More in a reflex than thinking about it, he licked his lips and found to his surprise that they tasted saly. Wow, so he must have had a pretty bad dream if it had managed to sweat up a storm. Suddenly, the blond frowned. Since when exactly did he have nightmares?

Actually, not were often, he even dared to say that he practically _never_ had nightmares.

An idea hit him like a flash and his eyes widened slightly. Was Luffy having those kind of nightmares after a fight that included the safety of his crew? Was that the responsibility Luffy had been talking about?

Sanji had already felt what it meant to be responsible for a whole crew's well-being back at the island. But after the nightmare he felt much more guilty than before – was that another part, another difficulty of being the captain? To deal with the guilt pressing down on both shoulders until you start to really blame yourself?

Before he had met Luffy, Sanji had had plently of nightmares. Mostly about Zeff saving his butt in that terrible storm, the night he'd almost lost his life, drowning shiftless.

Silently, Sanji wondered if devil fruit users felt that awful and helpless as they could do nothing while sinking like a hammer. Deeper and deeper into nothing but the creepy darkness beyond them, where Davy Jones was probably already rubbing his hands in greed, waiting for his next victims that he got sent from above for his locker.

Sanji shuddered. He was definitely having weird thoughts at the moment! But actually, the nineteen-year-old couldn't help it. He was so tired and confused and probably irritated as heck too that there were no logical thoughts coming to his mind.

Groaning as he felt a bad headache, the young man grabbed his throbbing head and masssaged his temples to make the pain go away.

It was when he realized that there were lots of deep scratches on his face. No, not scratches but rather cuts. His entire face felt like he had a terrible sunburn! This stupid Arch asshole, curse him and his damn acids! What the hell had he done to his smooth skin?

„Don't worry, I don't think they will leave scars." Chopper said softly from beside him as if he'd just read Sanji's thoughts. „And I have analyzed that liquid you got into your face and found out it had been an aggressive form of an acid." Seeing the poor captain's one visible eye unintentionally widen at that fact, Chopper quickly continued.

„Ehm, well, Robin and Usopp helped me to mix an alexipharmic in time, so there's no need to be concerned. Soon your face will be healed, but it does take its time so: No going out into the sun until I allow you to do so! Got that?" The reindeer doctor said, index finger lifting. At least, Chopper meant to do so but technically he didn't have an index finger, so-

Sanji jumped out of the bed. He couldn't bear staying still with all those crazy thoughts filling up his mind. He unconsciously noted that Chopper, somewhere in the background, complained about his sudden movements and was babbling something about bed rest.

Sanji seemed to think about it for a moment. It wasn't that of a bad idea, he still felt pretty exhausted but thankfully he wasn't in pain anymore. But all he wanted to do right now was sleeping in peace, but the only place where he could do so was in his own shaking hammock below the deck. Not here in the doctor's room. Not while everyone was standing in front of this door, whispering loudly and worrying for his health. Sanji didn't like that.

But as his stomach grumbled madly, Sanji bit his lip. It reminded him of something. Oh yeah, right... there was another thing he'd love to do right now... the one thing he'd done for the most time of his life, the one thing he was the best at doing. The thing Zeff had practised him, where Sanji's could show most skilled talents beside kicking.

It was _cooking_.

Yeah, he actually missed it to cook. If only he and Luffy could finally swtich places again...

Cooking was calming his nerves. People like Luffy would rather relax in a hammock or sitting on the Sunny's head, watching the gentle waves of the vast ocean lapping the ship.

But for Sanji, there was nothing more calming than standing in his kitchen and simply cook. Cooking was causing Luffy stress and pressure, and vice versa it was helping Sanji to deal with negative moods like that.

It was funny how different people actually were. Just like the difference between the numerous personalities, each other dealed with pressure and stress in completely different ways.

It was when the ex-cook realized something. How diverse their _crew_ was. They were fighting for their dreams, supporting each others as best as they could.

They were laughing about the same jokes, everyone enjoyed the same beautiful sunset, they all would give their lifes for the other, were the closest friends. Sanji would even say that they were a family – and still each other had their own expressions and ways of calming down, or simply relax.

They all had different hobbies, or should he rather call it _talents_? Talents in which everyone's own special character and personality could unfold and develop further, and arrange that there is always a special required balance for the inner peace?

Cooking. It was almost like having a long and relaxed cigarette. It was making Sanji happy and gave him the feeling he could be proud of something. Yeah, he missed the feeling of pride. He noticed those past days he'd been the captain that there wasn't anything he could be proud of.

Why's that you ask? Sanji could easily answer that. Because it wasn't him who had gathered a strong crew, he hadn't brought them all together and saved them from their miserably pasts.

Because Sanji hadn't promised Red Haired Shanks he would form an amazing crew and become king of the pirates.

'Cause the former cook couldn't give his nakama the huge and blinde amount of trust and _support_ they needed. Sanji wasn't able to give people something they could believe in, he even couldn't believe in his _own_ strenght and dream as much as _him_. The former cook, as he'd realized, found himself unable to carry everyone's dreams upon his shoulders without forgetting about his own. Most of all, he never could show them what it meant to be alive, what it meant to be _free_.

But there was someone onboard who could, someone who was currently ruining his kitchen: The captain. _Monkey D Luffy_. The man who would become the greates pirate the world has ever seen.

It wasn't Sanji's place to lead this crew. It was _his_. That's what the blond young man had figured out by now.

The problem: How the heck should he tell Luffy this? Could the moron even understand what he would be trying to say? Sanji didn't know how to deal with this, how to deal with him! How should he possibly explain an idiot like Luffy how he felt about cooking and all the other stuff he'd thought about? Luffy would only laugh at him and NEVER understand, would he?

Sanji was chewing on his bottom lip, a bad habit he had adopted from Luffy. What should he do now? Admitting his defeat? He didn't like that thought, really, he didn't. Sure there must be another way of solving this, right?... Right?

„-anji! SANJI!" Chopper sqeaked with an awkwardly high voice. It pulled Sanji back to reality, away from his many questions and thoughts in his mind. „You know, you shouldn't be walking around already!" Chopper 'hmphd', crossing his short arms.

„What? I'm fine!" Sanji accidentally snapped at the reindeer who blinked at him in surprise. Immediately, he regretted to snap at the little doctor and apologized for his misbehaviour. It was just that he was tensed and maybe a little stressed too.

„It's alright, I understand," Chopper said, offering him a warm smile. „So now that you're already up (and I probably won't manage to get you back into bed again), why don't you go to the others and tell them you're alright? They are worried about you, you know." The doctor suggested innocently, not realized Sanji flinched a bit at his words.

Somehow, the ex-cook didn't feel like facing the crew. He didn't know why, but he got a feeling that it was because of the pang of guilt he felt in his heart. After all, it had been him who had insisted on staying on that goddamn island. Where the others got hurt.

„Eh, what about the others, anyways? Are they alright?" Sanji all of sudden asked as he remembered the rough treatment they had gotten from Arch Meldowin. Sanji's visible eye blinked. Dang, how could he forget? „And, what about you, Chopper? You seem to be much better now compared to your condition in that volcano."

Chopper, who had faced one of his medicine books to look something up, turned around. „Thanks, I'm fine again. We all slept a good amount of hours since we left the island. Actually, Robin, Brook and Luffy are all much better again since we got far away from those awful gases at the island. No one's seriously injured beside you, a few scratches here and there but nothing serious. Luffy got a bit of that weird acid onto his hands and arms, but I've taken care of that by now. Yours was actually the most difficult to treat but it's okay now. Everyone's okay." Chopper finally finished, fully in his doctor mode by now.

Sanji couldn't help but smile before he remembered something else. „Gosh, what about all the inhabitans? We brought them with us, didn't we?"

„They awoke from their drugged state after sleeping one night. First they were confused where they were, but we told them everything and they started to remember.

A few hours before you awoke we brought them to another small island around here that was unoccupied. They were a bunch of really friendly people, and they told us to say thank you to you for beating Al'tera." Chopper smiled.

Sanji instinctly took a look out of the window. Much to his relief he couldn't spot any of them on deck. So that's what happened to them. Really, he was happy for them to be free now. Al'tera alias Arch sure had been a terrible, insane guy.

Then he frowned inwardly. Why did he feel relieved? Those people probably were really nice and he had never been the type to be that suspicious of strangers, not like the stupid seaweed head. Sanji blamed his exhaustion for that and tried to shrug it off. He needed to be alone and didn't want many people around him, that was all.

„Sanji?" Chopper's almost coyly voice distracted him from his thoughts again. „Do you feel bad? Do you wanna lay down instead?" he carefully suggested in a slightly concerned tone, but Sanji negated softly. He said he felt alright and would go out now, Chopper believed him and let him go, not without giving him one last warning about not being in the sun.

Sanji carefully opened the door and went out; his hands immediately went up to shield his face from the bright sun. The nineteen-year-old blinked, then he looked at the half-reliefed, half-worried glances of the crew.

„What are ya staring at? I'm fine, I'm fine." Sanji sighed, scratching his head. He didn't like all the attention he got.

„Shitty captain." Zoro only grumbled before yawning deeply. The swordsman turned around as if he didn't care about Sanji the least and, before sitting down, stretched his arms. Then Zoro fell asleep as soon as he sat down, leaning on the rail. Soon loud snores were to be heard and Sanji rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. The stupid Marimo would never change.

„So, you're alright?" Usopp intelligently asked but he was smiling the entire time, so Sanji couldn't be angry at the sniper. He only nodded in response.

„That's a pleasure to hear, Blackleg-san." Robin said with her usual calm smile and surprised Sanji with the strange nickname she gave him. So, obviously the beautiful archaeologist didn't feel comfortable with calling him 'captain_san' instead of calling Luffy that name. Speaking of which, where was he?

Stopping in his awkward noodle dance, the hearts disappearing in his eye, Sanji asked the question out loud although he could already guess. And, much to his dislike, Brook corroborated his thought at once.

„Luffy-san? He is in the kitchen." The skeleton then added, „And obviously, according to the noise coming from it, blowing it up."

Sanji however didnt give the poor musician the time to 'yohohoho' as he madly stomped past Brook, directly towards the kitchen. Luffy in the kitchen was one thing. Luffy in the kitchen PLUS a loud noise was too much! Sanji couldn't bear Luffy blowing up his beloved kitchen!

But before he could enter his special area, a hand gripped him firmly at his shoulder. Sanji was about to turn around and shove his fist into the owner of the hand's mouth, but stopped abruptly. It was Nami's hand that had stopped him. He smiled into her pretty face, all anger instantly vanished.

„Sanji-kun, I believe that you should leave him alone. He's really trying his best." Nami said while staring into the captain's ocean blue eye.

Sanji thought about it for a moment before he let his shoulders slump down a little. Then he grinned up to his Nami-swan. „As you wish, my dear damsel!" he chirped, and the others blinked at the sudden mood-swing. But well, that was the power of love, right?

„Thanks, Sanji-kun." she smiled and caused Sanji to shout out he was the happiest man alive for getting a wonderful smile of his even more wonderful Nami-swaaaaaan.

**-X-Y-X-Y-X-Y-X-**

Inside the kitchen, Luffy was having trouble to cook. Well, actually, to say he was only having trouble was a complete understatement. He'd cut himself twice, burnt his already hurt hands three times already and couldn't stop crying because of those damn onions!

And, worst of all, he didn't even have an idea of what he was cooking. Sanji would be furious if he found out what a mess he'd created in his kitchen. Many different pots were here and there, some forks lay on the ground. A lonely and small tomatoe slowly was making it's way rolling towards the table, trying to hide under it. Luffy didn't notice it as another pot slipped out of his clumsy hands and landed with a loud sound on the floor.

Luffy bit his teeth tightly, waiting for a few seconds and listening. As no one was stomping through the door to kick his ass for being so loud, Luffy sighed reliefed and bent down to pick up the huge iron pot. Unfortunately, Luffy hadn't noticed the tray beside himself at the counter where he had cut three onions in little pieces. While bending down, Luffy accidentally knocked the tray down in the progress, sending all the small, very very small, pieces of onions flying through the air. The tray crashed down onto his right foot and he didn't even have time to yelp as the onions rained down onto his head and falling into his collar.

Luffy's eyes widened immediately and he shot up, sqeaking like a guineapig. He couldn't help it, these onions felt like thousands of small slimy slugs. If there was one thing Luffy hated, it were slugs! Twitching around like a maniac, Luffy desperately tried to get rid of them.

It drove him crazy as they slowly rolled down on his naked skin, down his back. He scratched himself on every part of his upper body, but wasn't able to make the tickling sensation go away. Luffy continued to shriek like a ten-year-old girl and ran around in a circle, all the way rubbing his own back. His right foot still hurt from the impact with the heavy pot.

To make the situaiton perfect, Luffy soon ran right onto one of the many forks on the floor. „Woahaaaaaaaaa!" It stuck in his left foot and the cook jumped a good half meter into the air, screeching loudly.

As he landed back on his now both hurting abused feet, he stumbled and crashed, face-first, right into the poor refrigerator who had been hoping to be spared from Luffy's clumsyness. It's hopes vanished as soon as Luffy made contact with it, hard. It was impossible not to hear the immense noise outside.

„Damn," Luffy muttered as he pulled his head out of the half-destroyed fridge. Then he turned around, slowly because he wasn't eager to face all the mess he'd created in the kitchen, and inhaled deeply. Gosh, the kitchen surely didn't like him. Had just a bomb exploded behind his back without him noticing? This place sucked.

Luffy's eyes narrowed at the one pot which had decided before to land right onto his foot. Then he didn't hesitate to kick the poor thing right into the next wall, not bothering to avoid noise from then on. He was pissed, to say the least.

„I swear, the whole damn kitchen is boycotting me! I wouldn't be surprised if they planned a revolution against me," he said to no one in particular and stuffed his hands into his pockets, pouting as he sat down onto the ground.

What should he do now? It was a boring place, he had no idea what he should cook, he didn't even want to cook. Luffy ildly wondered how Sanji could enjoy something difficult like this. What's the point of being a cook, anyways?

Luffy let his arms rest on his knees that were pulled to his body. His gaze trailed around the more or less destroyed kitchen until they rested onto the blue sky he could see through the small kitchon window. It was a bright and sunny day, the warm air was nice to feel on the skin, a soft blow was to be felt and you got a fantastic sight at the incredibly wide sea.

But he couldn't sit outside and enjoy the clear day, couldn't lay on the grassy deck to greet the warm sun above him and just be happy, thinking about nothing but how he enjoyed it to be a pirate.

He was stuck in one kitchen and it was giving him the feeling as if he was a prisoner. A prisoner of his own crew, that wasn't his crew anymore because Sanji was the captain now.

An almost sad sigh escaped his lips. How did Sanji manage to stay in the damn kitchen, working his butt of, all day without anyone saying thanks for the food? Was cooking that much fun so that Sanji wasn't bothered by the ungrateful crew? Was _he_ thankful for being able to cook everyday...? That was a weird thought, Luffy decided.

Maybe it was just that Luffy was too stupid to realize how much fun cooking could be? There must be something exciting about it if there was a whole restaurant filled with passionate cooks in the East Blue! Why didn't he see the fun behind it?

Luffy sighed. He couldn't see the fun behind it because of many many reasons. Luffy nibbled at his bottom lip for a while, trying to figure some of those reasons out. It took him a while to get the picture, but suddenly it clicked in his mind. It was so easy. So really simple.

Luffy didn't have the required skills. He was clumsy, he was too loud, too bouncy to stand still and cook. Luffy didn't have the patience you need to prepare a meal. Luffy got easily distracted by the simplest things. The seventeen-year-old got easily bored, and he and his bottomless stomach would form a fearful team to plunder every edible foodstuff they could find until there was nothing left to cook. Luffy didn't have the knowledge how to cook something nice, how to cook anything.

More importantly, he also didn't have the important interest in how different kinds of food are cooked and what kinds of ingredients they had. To make it short and simple: Monkey D Luffy wasn't made to be a cook. He couldn't do it. But he knew that there was a man who could do this hard job; someone who belonged into the kitchen more than anyone.

It wasn't his place to prepare meals. Definitely not. Because that's why he had chosen Sanji to be his pirate crew's cook, and that's why Sanji was one of his nakama.

How could Luffy have been so blind, so ignorant, not so see it earlier? Sanji was the cook, and no one else. Not Nami, not Robin, not Usopp, not _himself_. It was _Sanji's_ place. The kitchen was his private area, where only Sanji was able to rule. It was his own personal talent, maybe natural, and there was definitely no one in the whole world who could cook better than Sanji. The blonde was practically the king of cooks, if you want so. Luffy chuckled at that thought. Yeah, the two kings of their own personal character traits, the things they were the best at.

Maybe it was even fate, or desteny, but both Luffy and Sanji realized something pretty important at almost the same time, only a few meters away from the other without knowing it: Sanji belonged to the kitchen, as well as Luffy belonged to the figure's head outside.

It was just as simple as that, but it took the two thickheads a very long time to realize.

Sanji was the cook, and Luffy was the captain. And that's how it was supposed to be, not the other way round.

Sanji and 'cooking' was just like a ship and an anchor, it went together well. Luffy and 'captain' was like a tree and it's roots, it was keeping him in place.

Without that, both of them would be swept away by the current and the wind, not able to stand their grounds and keep their balance anymore.

The two of them may have admitted their personal defeat to themselves, but, so Robin was wondering as she watched both of them with interest, who would be doing the first step towards the other and admit his defeat before the other?

Who had enough courage to throw away the silly pride to admit first?

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**I know I'm really mean for stopping here. Sorry you guys. But it's late, I'm tired and need to sleep. I hope you all had fun reading! :)**

**I guess Luffy causing trouble in a kitchen would be a priceless and hilarious sight, wouldn't it?(well, as long as it's not my kitchen he's messing with lol)**

**Please be kind enough to leave a review, they motivate me a lot! :D**

**See you next chapter~!**


	12. Two pigheads

**Heey guys! How are ya doing? ;) I did it yay! Finally phew! ****Sorry for not updating for so****long again,**** but I really had other things on my mind such as learning for my finals. But now that I don't have any more final exams to write I have more time for this story! :) Hope you still like to read! **

**Thank you for the lovely reviews!**

**HappyGirl282: Well, in fact they knew since chapter 6 that it wasn't their place, but now they (finally) managed to admit it to themselves. Thank you! ;) Haha I'm glad you think so! Yeah and poor Franky, he has to repair it after all xD Haha maybe, it would only be fair right? x3 **

**ruby890: Thanks a lot! :D **

**And the last one reviewer (from which I don't know the name): Thanks! It's really appreciated :D **

**You three cheered me up, thanks! Now please lean back and enjoy chapter 12! =)**

**Well, I apologize for any typing errors and grammar mistakes! I hope there aren't too many though. **

**Disclaimer: Yesh yesh, I don't own One Piece. **

**YXYXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 12 – Two pigheads**

„I-I... I'm sorry. Really, I feel terrible for what has happened. And all just 'cause of that shitty bet. I admit I've been wrong. Sorry."

„Yeah, I know how you feel. I'm SO sorry too. Just let's forget about it, right Sanji?"

„Just exactly what I wanted to suggest."

„Great!"

„I'm glad we get along again."

„Yups, it's great."

„Well.."

„Yosh..!"

„Yeah!...Shit." Sanji inhaled deeply, dropping his silly grin that had been plastered on his face. He went to the railing and leant against it, staring out at the sea while taking a long drag of his cigarette. The sun was shining and it's bright rays were reflected by the glistening ocean.

„Damn it all to hell... it would never work that easily." Sanji said to no one in particular since there wasn't anyone else near. The others did whatever they usually did on a sunny and relaxing day like this and, safe for Robin, Sanji couldn't see anyone else of his crew.

Mentioned woman sat in her chair under a lilac parasol, pretending to read a book about historical facts. In fact, if you were to watch her closer, you would realize she was doing everything but reading. The clever archaeologist observed with narrowed eyes the captain's funny actions.

She knew exactly Sanji had only tried to imagine in what kind of situation he would be if he was to apologize to Luffy and pretended their, ehm, _talk_. Playing both himself and Luffy's role, he had been talking to himself with an amused archaeologist watching secretly.

Well, not that Sanji's act really changed their current situation... but at least it was a good step towards an apology to Luffy.

But on the other hand Robin knew it would take far more time for Sanji to actually say sorry to the _cook_. And Sanji doubted Luffy would apologize first, no matter how long this would be going on.

Hmm... maybe they just needed a little push...? Robin looked thoughtful for a moment. Then the door of the kitchen opened and Luffy stepped outside to lean on the railing as well. He didn't notice Sanji standing on the other part of the huge deck and just wobbled over to the left side of the ship.

There, the seventeen years old's shoulders began to shake a little and at first Sanji blinked in shock. Was Luffy crying...? At a second glance, the blond realized he had been wrong. The rubber teen wasn't weeping at all, but what was that? Luffy caughed? Luffy never caughed 'cause he hardly got sick! Okay, after some shitty hard and long fight it wasn't that unusual for the seventeen year old to catch a fever but now? Just out of the blue?

Luffy coughed and seemed to do something else than just staring out at the sea like Sanji had done. Then both Robin and Sanji lifted an eyebrow in wonder as they realized Luffy was... retching?

Then the captain and the archaeologist exchanged a slightly irritated glance before Robin decided to stand up and go over to Luffy. Whatever was wrong with him needed to be found out and Robin was curious by nature. That, plus the black haired woman really was concerned for Luffy.

„Luffy... is everything al-" Robin started to ask but stopped in mid-sentence as she saw nothing was alright. Not at all. Luffy was actually throwing up and coughed weakly.

„R-Robin..." Luffy murmured and wiped his mouth. Turning around, he almost fell to the ground as he was slightly dizzy. The woman however quickly caught him and supported the other.

„What..." Again the woman was cut off as Luffy interrupted her.

„I- well, I wanted t-to cook something r-really nice and tried it afterwards.. and it made me s-sick all of sudden.. it- it is the first time food ever made me sick.." Luffy's voice grew quiet at the end of the sentence and he glanced at the floor.

Robin's eyes widened a bit upon seeing this, this came unexpected. Luffy was ashamed? She sighed. It must be hard for their former captain to learn food could make you sick. Or was it that Luffy was disappointed in his own stomach for throwing up 'cause of food?

Her eyes softened and she smiled warmly at her ex-captain.

„Luffy, I think we should go to doctor-san and see if he can give you something that makes you feel better, okay? It's alright." She suggested friendly and felt Luffy giving her a nod. The pale cook didn't really mind that Robin talked to him as if he were a five year old and she his mother.

As the two figures disappeared in the infirmary, Sanji lit another cigarette and threw the old one into the ocean. Woah, he wouldn't have thought Luffy would ever have to bark 'cause of food... but then, Sanji didn't even want to know what Luffy had produced all alone in that kitchen... whatever it was, it must have been at least poisonous because the strawhat teen practically could eat anything after all!

The blond haired man shook his head and looked back at the vast sea. How should this continue..? It was a very bizarre situation indeed and he should do something against it, that was for sure.

In all honesty, Sanji would prefer it if everything could just go back to how it used to be. Without all the apologizing and talking-about-the-oh-so-silly-bet stuff. That was just... embarrassing for the two usual strong and proud men.

Then the shitty gomu-brain were the damned captain again and he could be cooking in his lovely kitchen in peace.

Okay, Luffy would probably still burst through his kitchen door (knowing the silly strawhat boy, Luffy _literally_ would burst _through_ the door) and get on his nerves with his whining but he could deal with that. It was far more better than playing the shitty captain. As the cook he would feel as one piece again but now there's something missing... actually, the most important thing's missing.

This whole bet was just stupid and got on his nerves as hell! But the worst part for Sanji wasn't the fact he missed the cooking. No, it definitely was the fact that he wasn't able to bring his two gorgeous beauties some cool drinks anymore!

How should he get their attention then? It was a catastrophe to say the least! Sanji was on his best way to a disastrous crisis! He' thought as the captain of the ship he could get more attention but now he realized it was simply not true. For him, this was a serious problem!

Havin similar thoughts floating through his mind, the former cook smoked one cigarette after another and didn't notice the time flew. Soon the nineteen-year-old found himself still alone on deck while the sun had already set and some stars were to be seen on the incredibly huge and dark sky.

He hadn't realized how Luffy and Robin had already left the infirmary hours ago and went back into the kitchen and somewhere under deck. Apparently the archaeologist was off to read in the library.

Sanji stretched his limps before he turned around to search for the others. If he remembered correctly, the stupid spinach head was still in the crow's nest and Luffy surely was in -sigh- _his_ kitchen, so it would probably be fun to join the others in whatever they were doing.

He'd had enough of thinking and ragging his brain, now it was time to pay attention to his crew.

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

„Ne," Robin started with a soft smile and looked at her nakama, „Captain-san..." She began but didn't finish, curious to who would answer her. And just as she had planned, both Luffy and Sanji stopped eating for a second and looked up, answering in unison.

„Yeah?" Then both of them looked a bit confused and irritated at each other before Luffy eventually realized his mistake and blushed. Immediately, the black-haired boy's eyes darted back to his plate and he continued to eat. He and Sanji could hear Robin giggle which made Luffy pout.

„No fair, Robin..." he murmured and took a huge gulp of his orange juice. He could feel everyone's eyes on him which made him feel even more uncomfortable. Luffy didn't know how this could have happened in the first place, he knew he was the cook now! In fact, he'd officially been the strawhats cook for a long time now, so why did he react as Robin said 'Captain'?

'I guess it was just out of an old habit...' he thought, chewing on his half-raw meat. It was pretty tough and even though Luffy himself didn't mind eating it (meat always tasted good after all), he felt bad for his crew as they had to eat it as well. The others were used to the delicious meals of Sanji, so his food must be torture for them...

„Ah , well, what's the matter Robin, my angel? Do you need anything?" Sanji politely asked, but the archaeologist didn't miss the slight irritation that laid in the blonde's voice.

Now all the attention was on the black haired woman as they were curious as well. Nami however already guessed Robin only had wanted to test something out. The navigator chuckled quietly and shook her head at the other woman.

Robin only smiled back at her nakama and shook her head. „Sorry, it's nothing." Before anyone could make any commet on that, Robin looked at Nami.

„Nami, I've heard we will reach another island soon?" She asked to change the subject and it really worked. The others seemed to already have forgotten about her weird behaviour and wondered about the next island too.

„Yes that's right, it's called _Isle of Silencio_ (*). If I've calculated correctly, then we will land there tomorrow evening. But we need to be careful, there's a marine base." Nami said, forcing another fork of icky meat down her throat. She tried as best as possible to enjoy this meal not to make Luffy feel bad, but there was simply no way to enjoy something like _this_!

„Huh? A marine base? If there's something like that on that island, then why do we need to stop there? It's too dangerous, we're pretty famous after all, Nami-sis!" Franky responded in slight wonder, not putting one and one together at once. Nami and a few others sighed.

Usopp however completely agreed with the cyborg. „Th-that's true, the risk that we could get caught is too big! We should avoid it, sounds dangerous indeed...ne, Chopper?" The long-nosed boy said, turning to the fluffy reindeer as he pleaded for more support.

„Yes yes, Usopp and Franky are right! Nami! Marine is scary! Scary marine..." Chopper nodded furiously, clunching tightly to his fork.

„Morons! Geez, it isn't your first day on the sea, is it? We need to stop there to buy some supplies, we're running out of food in case you haven't noticed!" The navigator spat. Today, she wasn't in a very good mood she had to admit.

The crew only nodded shyly and continued to eat Luffy's food, trying to keep it and not to throw up right there. Luffy didn't miss that.

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

„Soo.. I really agree with you there, but what should we do against it?" Usopp asked in wonder, a loud yawn followed.

Nami rolled her eyes. „I don't know but we have to do something. Look at them, they're so childish and won't talk about their dumb bet! I can't believe they _still_ haven't apologized to each other... such thickheads." The beautiful navigator inhaled deeply to calm her nerves. She and the rest of the crew (except for Sanji and Luffy) were sitting in the kitchen. You wonder why they do so in the middle of the night? One reason: Nami had _friendly_ asked them to come to the kitchen. She wanted to discuss Luffy's and Sanji's ridiculous acting and _of course_ the others willingly followed her plea.

„Nami-san is right. This shouldn't go on like that, it's not only getting on everyone's nerves but also do they unconsciously bring us in danger. They seem to be caught in their own little world, each of them always lost in thoughts. What if we were about to meet a marine ship? Two of the most powerful fighters wouldn't be realizing." Robin spoke gently but her words shocked everyone.

Okay, Robin sometimes got the hang to exaggerate situations but still... it made the others realize how serious their problem was. And then Zoro said something that made the others hold their breaths for a few seconds.

„We need to face the reality. Their friendship is breaking apart, and so could our crew." The green-haired swordsfighter grumbled as he sat cross-legged with his arms crossed over his chest. Zoro's eyes were closed and his breathing calm.

The rest of the crew was speechless as the words began to sank in. In some way, Zoro was absolutely right. Maybe they all had known this from the beginning as they observed Sanji and Luffy talking... or rather _arguing_. Maybe they had just wanted to run away from reality. Maybe something in this crew was really quite... off. They needed their captain back. And the captain needed his crew back. They needed their cook back, and Sanji needed his kitchen back.

The atmosphere in the room tensed and treated to crush the crew as they sat there in silence. How could they solve the problem? How should they make the two apologize to each other?

„And if we just force Sanji back in his kitchen and Luffy back on his favourite seat at Sunny's head? I'm sure they would be glad to be back in their places." Usopp suggested and scratched his chin, trying to look wise. Chopper's mouth formed an 'o' shape and he stared at Usopp in awe.

„Usopp, you're so clever!" the little doctor cheered.

„Are you serious Usopp-san?" Brook asked surprised. Should they just _force_ them like that? „I'm not sure if that would be the best way though."

„Brook's right you jerks! We shouldn't interfere directly, it is something personal between the two. It wouldn't seem right to do something like that. It would be totally UNSUPA!" Franky stated and 'hmphed'.

Most of the nakama had to agree with that, even Usopp and Chopper. And before anyone else could put in their two cents, Zoro murmured in a dark tone of voice:

„You know, it is their argument, Franky's right with that. It's not our place to make them apologize, it's something Sanji and Luffy need to figure out on their own. But their silly behaviour could damage the crew's bonds, so we need to do something. I'd say, these two only need a little kick in their butts and then they will apologize on their own. We only need to find out with what to kick..."

Amazed by Zoro's manly speech, the skeleton, Usopp and Chopper clasped their hands shyly in reverence for the swordsman. Franky on the other side of the table began to sniffle, deeply touched by those words.

„Sniff... Zoro-bro, your choice of words was so moving! I see why you are the first mate...sniff..", Rubbing his eyes, the cyborg added in a rather irritated tone:" What are ya looking at? I'm not crying, dammit!" Sobbing, he turned away from the glances of his nakama.

Nami blinked, then she harrumphed. „Ehm... yeah, does anyone have an idea?" But then, she blinked again. „Oh, wait a sec! I think I know what we could do... at least as a start." Nami's cheeky smile appeared and the others leaned forwards to hear better.

„We will land at that island tomorrow, right? So how 'bout we send Sanji and Luffy together to buy supplies? That way Luffy will have no idea of what to buy and then he has to admit he has no idea about cooking and all that stuff. Then Sanji will agree and admit he isn't a fitting captain and ta-daa! It will be all good again!" Nami smiled victoriously, not having the slightest doubt her fantastic plan would fail.

The others didn't know what to think of this plan of hers, neither what to say to that. Even Robin frowned slightly, quite insecure. In all honesty, the archaeologist wasn't too sure Nami's idea would be a great success... but then, this was their only plan so what choice did they have other than just trying out?

„Alright.. let's try that, maybe it won't end in a total chaos. Who knows, this could be the solution to our problem... maybe all the two of them need is some time with each other.." Robin sighed, not wanting to admit she was pretty tired as she hid a yawn. She really hoped their plan worked, otherwise... otherwise the two thickheads would probably never talk to each other again.

**YXYXYXYXYX**

That night, two of the strawhat members couldn't sleep and laid wide awake in their hammocks. Both of the males didn't know the other wasn't sleeping as well as they were deep in thoughts.

Sanji and Luffy had already noticed the absence of their other crewmembers and figured they were discussing about them. It made the two men feel really uncomfortable, knowing others, their nakama, were discussing about them and how to solve their problem.

Luffy stared up at the ceiling even though it was too pitch black to see anything in the dark. A sigh escaped his lips. He hadn't meant to involve the entire crew in his and Sanji's stupid bet! It should have been something like a silly test, a test who could deal with the other's job! Now it had turned out into an argument... not that he and Sanji were shouting at each other or something, it was more like a silent fighting. They were avoiding each other and hardly spoke to the other.

Actually, it was sad. It hurt Luffy and Sanji to know they were denying each other just 'cause of that bet. But it hurt them even more not to know why the heck it was so hard to just say two words that would change so much: _I'm_ _sorry_. It just meant admitting a stupid mistake, so why was it so difficult..? Luffy guessed it was probably because of the same reason as why there was something like war in this world.

Because admitting a mistake would prove weakness, and weakness meant _inferiority_. And that was something no existing creature wanted, it was like a law of nature, older than humanity itself.

Funny, humans always wanted to prove their strentgh and intelligence and _superiority_... but when it came to actually using the thing that differentiated humans from other living organism, the _discretion_, then most of the so-called 'predominant' humans failed to do so.

Now it was Sanji who sighed silently to himself. He'd had similar thoughts than Luffy and couldn't seem to get some sleep. Plus, somehow it made him feel slightly betrayed by his crew. Why didn't they just come to him and Luffy and talk with them about it? Instead they chose to discuss the issue behind their backs.

The next moment, the blond-haired man mentally slapped himself as he noticed how ridiculous his thoughts were. Of course they didn't try to talk to them, it would only make matters worse than they already were. In fact, discussing without the two troublemakers - Sanji cringed at his own thoughts but knew they were true – was the best thing they could do. Sanji ran a hand through his blond hair. At least the crew communicated with each other if they got a problem... other than him and Luffy, who, on the contrary, wouldn't say a single word let alone sentence to the other.

He didn't know what exactly the others were talking about. Somehow, Sanji was sure they planned something, something that should make him and Luffy come to their senses.

The marimo-head surely would try to say something wise, being an old poser as he was, and then everyone else would follow his, ehm... _advice_. But what could they plan?

Sanji was still in full clothes and absent-mindly played with his tie. He wondered what would await him and the rubber cook tomorrow...

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

„Wha-? B-but Nami-san, my beautiful angel...!" Sanji stuttered, the heart-eye instantly vanished.

Nami only crossed her arms over her chest and grinned at Luffy and Sanji, acting all innocent. „Hm? What's that? Do you have any problems with buying supplies together?" the woman with the orange hair blinked at the two, not dropping her act. The rest of the crew acted similar, as if they had never known Sanji and Luffy weren't talking to each other anymore.

„What's wrong with you two? Just go and get the stupid food already, we're all damn hungry!" Zoro grumbled. „Sanji, it's your duty as a captain to make sure the crew is healthy, right? And Luffy, it's your job to buy supplies, isn't it? You're the cook after all!" The swordsman couldn't help but snicker at his own mean comment. Yeah, he really could be a hypocrit sometimes.

Usopp nearly burst out at Sanjis and Luffy's lost looks. The sniper felt so mean but found it funny at the same time. Poor them. But it was their plan, so no interfering!

„Alright then? Good. Be back before the sun sets, you hear me?" Nami warned, shaking her index finger while narrowing her eyes, leaving no space for any protests.

„Uh... y-yes Nami.." Luffy murmured, feeling uneasy about being alone with the captain. He knew Sanji would only get on his nerves and they probably would end up fighting again, but this time with hands and feet. Luffy shuddered at that thought and wanted to say something, but Franky was faster.

„Say, what are ya two waiting for? The city is that way, only a two or three kilometers away!" The cyborg pointed his ridicilously huge index finger into the direction the city was. Sanji and Luffy automatically followed with their glance and stared to the huge forest.

„C-can't I go with Zoro..?" Luffy timitly asked, not behaving like his usual self at all. Zoro had to grin at the fact Luffy would rather go with him instead of Sanji and made a note to himself to tease the blond about that later.

„Luffy. Sanji. Go. NOW!" Nami hissed like an angry cat, glaring at the two helpless men who saluted in reflex and dashed off seconds after that.

While watching the huge dust cloud the two produced as they ran away, the navigator grinned satisfied. She turned around and found the rest smiling as well. Step one: complete! Now the rest was up to the two stubborn guys!

Chopper sighed, hoping that Luffy and Sanji would return arms in arms, happy and laughing. That would be the thing Chopper wished most, but he knew at the same time this wouldn't happen.

Somehow, he feared something would go wrong. Now that he thought about it, there was something inside him that kept making him feel uneasy about the whole situation. As if they'd just done a huge mistake they would regret later... as if Sanji and Luffy were in danger...

Couldn't the others feel it too? The reindeer looked around. Apparently not, everyone seemed reliefed and satisfied. So maybe it was just his imagination...?

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

„I-I've ne-never run that quick b-before... in my whole l-life.." Sanji panted, completely out of breath. Luffy was right beside him and supported himself on his knees, panting as well.

„Y-yeah... Nami s-sometimes is even scarier than g-gramps.. well, at least I think she is-" Luffy started but shut his mouth as soon as he realized he was talking with Sanji. Coughing awkwardly, the two men looked around.

They'd run so fast, always that scary glare of Nami in mind, that they hadn't noticed they'd reached the city already. It wasn't that huge but big enough to get lost if you didn't know your way around. The two members of the strawhat crew could see a big market with lots of different vegetable, fruits and, all above, meat. Luffy immediately cheered, forgetting about Sanji all along as he dashed towards it.

„That moron never changes..." Sanji murmured to himself as he watched the poor man who sold the meat nearly getting a heart attack upon Luffy's... arrival. Sanji decided to put a stop at that. He should bring Luffy back to reality quickly, the sooner they had what they wanted, the better it was. Then they could return to the ship again.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. Sanji shot around, tensed as he was, and realized what was off. All the other visitors of the city were gone! Just like that! Sanji frowned deeply, what was going on?

'Have they realized we're pirates and fleed?' Sanji shook his head. No, this all just had happened too damn fast and silent! Maybe this was why the island was called 'Island of Silencio'...? No, this was something different.

The blond haired man sensed this could be, or rather _had_ to be a trap and turned around quickly to take Luffy and make a run for it. But as he looked at the sales stall with the meat, he could neither see the seller, nor Luffy around! The hell?

„Luffy? Oi, Luffy!" Sanji called even though he felt uneasy about yelling. But then, if this was a trap then the enemy already knew about his presence, so why hiding? Besides, he had to find the shithead first, bet or not, Luffy was still his nakama and no silly argument could change that.

„If you think it's funny, lemme tell you it IS NOT! Come out now, idiot, we need to go!" The captain said again, and again he got no response. Slowly, he seriously began to worry. This was already going too far to be a childish joke anymore. And Luffy was too upset with him to kid with him, by the way. But who or what could've kidnapped his cap-err, his nakama Luffy just like that and without making a noise? Sanji knew Luffy was strong, and even if the black-haired teen lost a fight he would never give up until he couldn't stand anymore. So... if there was an enemy around, then he had had to act pretty damn quick and with unfair tricks – the only thing the naive Luffy couldn't stand up against.

All of sudden, Sanji knew who did this: The marine! Hadn't the others talked about a marine base being on that island? Gosh, this was a trap from the marine! How could he have been so slow not to realize it right away? The nineteen-year old wanted to slap himself for being so stupid.

Sadly, his realization came a little too late. Just the moment he wanted to turn around and dash back to Sunny to call for help, something hit him in his neck. Sanji gasped, guessing it was a needle – which could be poisonous- and frantically tried to pull it out. However, before his shaking hands could reach it his world began to spin like crazy. Sanji saw black before he hit the ground.

He didn't even see the people returning from their hiding spots and gather around him. He didn't see the marine fighter who asked the city people to stay away, they needed to arrest him and the other quickly. The captain couldn't hear one of the marine soldiers shouting:

„WE GOT 'EM! We caught two of the infamous strawhats! Sir, your orders please!"

„Isn't it obvious, idiot?" The tall marine officer barked back, making the soldier flinch slightly, „Just get the asses of this scum towards the base, and don't forget to lock them in different cells! Now move it or they will wake up too soon, moron!"

„AYE, SIR!"

Sanji didn't even feel the handcuffs the marine locked around his wrists as they dragged him and Luffy away.

**YXYXYXYXYXYX**

**(*) Well, it's partly Spanish, silencio means silence (ok, this was simple and I bet you already knew, but oh well xD) In my opinion, Spanish is a beautiful language and I love the sound of it so that's why I chose a Spanish word as a name. Sadly we don't learn it at school and I can't speak it. But maybe I will try to learn it someday^^**

**Saa, did you like this chapter? I hope you had fun reading, if so then please let me now! Pretty please? ;3 **

**Thanks for reading and until next time! I will update quicker than last time, don't worry! :D **


	13. The best

**I've really tried to update quicker than the last time, so I hope you didn't have to wait too long!**

**Thanks so many times to the people who reviewed!**

**HappyGirl282: Seriously? Wow, that's pretty cool! May I ask what 'Isle of Silence' would mean in Spanish? I wanted to use that instead of 'Isle of Silencio' but I didn't really know how to translate it, so well^-^ Well, I can understand that, must be annoying. But I guess Spanish can be difficult, so don't be too harsh with those fellows ;) Thanks, I'm so happy I got it right! :D Glad you did! Lol oh that's true, I honestly didn't notice while writing the chapter! **

**Anime lover 3593: Yeah! Aw but it's not that easy to learn after all. Even though I wish I would learn it at school, too! Oh thanks for the cookie :3 Phew I'm glad you think so, I thought I was the only one^^ Yeah I guess it was a little too obvious what would happen, but I hope the next things that happen are going to be surprising ;) Everything will be explained, don't worry. No it's okay^^ Thank you! Sorry for that :) Thanks!**

**Miyu Hinamori: Thank you, it's great if you did. I understand that, but don't worry, the story will end soon ;) **

**Kaoru likes One Piece: Hi ;) I'm happy you've enjoyed the fic. Yeah, it's okay to criticise, it's your opinion after all :) But please continue to read the few next chapters. The reason why I thought of this island and a new kind of mess is because I just didn't want to end the story in such a typical way, you know, Sanji/Luffy feeling sorry and switch their places and everything's okay again. I thought that would be too obvious. The story is ending soon, but in a slightly different way :) Hope you still want to take a look at the following chapters, thanks for reading anyways. :)**

**Thanks everyone of you who always takes the time to review! :D Makes me so happy!**

**Warning: Lots of bad words in this chapter. And sorry for any mistakes! **

**Pls enjoy now :)**

**Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda-sensei!**

**YXYXYXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 13 – The best  
**

Sanji hated this place. The nineteen-year-old had just awoken and found himself in this pitiful cell, Luffy nowhere in sight. It took a few minutes for Sanji's eyes to adjust to the pitch black darkness, though he still couldn't see far.

He hated everything about this place. It was dirty, dark and full of awful – _really_ awful – smells. The captain didn't even want to know when was the last time his cell had been cleaned or _if_ it would be cleaned every now and then. He guessed not.

Suddenly he saw something black and round moving quickly across the floor. First he didn't realize what it was, maybe a mouse? No, it was something esle. As the thing came nearer, Sanji jumped up and gulped. His chains rettled from the sudden movement.

The fat, hairy spider didn't seem to mind him at all and dashed towards the wall he'd been leaning on against, only to disappear in a small hole in the edge. Sanji shuddered. He just couldn't help it, he hated spiders! These things were just so... so disgusting! Okay, Sanji wouldn't have jumped if it had been a smaller one, but this spider had been too big, definitely. He could've sworn he'd seen the spider's teeth for a moment – ugh!

Then a small smile crept on his face. Usopp probably would've laughed his ass off if he had seen Sanji. Yeah, the sniper really seemed to like these little things, didn't he? For a second, Sanji wondered who of the two was the real scaredycat there but then he dropped the thought. It didn't matter now, he had to concetrate on more important things. The blond-haired man needed to think of a plan, he wanted to get outta there as fast as possible after all!

It was a horrible place he didn't want to stay any longer at. This must be a nightmare, a prisoner of the marine. How the heck could it have come this far? The marine just kidnapped them as if they were little kids! It must have been an easy job to do so. Sanji sighed, he should have paid more attention.

Looking around, he wondered where Luffy could be. The annoying boy was definitely not in the same cell as Sanji was and the ex-cook couldn't even see towards the next cell across him due to the darkness. Maybe Luffy was locked up in one of them? Sanji decided to give it a try and softly called his name. Then he waited. Silence.

He called again, this time a little louder. „Hey, Luffy! You there? Luffy!" Again, Sanji was greeted with deadly silence. What's up with this place? Weren't there any other prisoners besides him? Where the heck did they take his ca- uhm, his cook?

„Shut up, Blackleg. It's useless to call anyways." A voice suddenly said in a harsh tone, causing the blond to flinch.

„Who's there?" he asked without thinking. Just as soon as the question left his mouth he wanted to kick himself. He sounded so pathetic, so helpless.

„Aw, are you scared?" the voice teased, making Sanji blush for asking.

„Shut it! Where am I?" Sanji wanted to know, trying to change the subject. He had no idea to whom he was talking but guessed it could be one of the guards since the voice seemed to come right from behind the bars.

„Don't you remember? You and your stupid friend were captured in the town. You were easy to catch, it was fun!"

„The hell?" Sanji grumbled angrily, „What's wrong with you? You just took us by surprise, that's all!"

Sanji could practically feel the guard smirk, although he couldn't even see the man's silhouette. „But you're pirates, aren't you? You should always be prepared for an attack, especially if there's a marine base around."

The blond-haired man didn't want to say it out loud, but he had to admit the stranger was kinda right. They should have see this coming.

„How did you find us so fast, anyways? It's as if you knew we were coming to town!" Sanji decided to avoid the answer of the guard and instead asked something different.

„Yeah, well you see... we've kind of spies all over the island. There even are some at the only two harbours we have, the one near the town and the last one at the other side of the island." The guard explained, „So as your ship docked at the last one, we got informed by our spies immediately."

„But why didn't you arrest us then? That way you could have caught the whole crew at once." Sanji wanted to know, not minding that he talked to the marine as if they were old friends.

The other chuckled. „Are you insane? Even our dumb boss Masa knows that we could never have beaten the whole strawhat crew in a direct fight. You're too strong or simply would have left the island as soon as you saw us coming. That's why we continued to watch you and as you and the captain left the ship, Masa decided to catch you one by one. He was sure the rest of the crew would not stay together the whole time and even if they would, a fight would not be as risky as before with two of the strongest fighters gone. Also couldn't the remaining crew just flee without leaving you two behind."

Sanji inhaled deeply. „ I see." Masa apparently wasn't as stupid as he'd first thought.

The guard continued. „We could easily trick your brainless captain with that meat. You know, he may be a badass if it comes to fighting but even you have to admit that _thinking_ is definitely not one of Mugiwara's strenghts." the man stopped to chuckle. „However, we even managed to catch you and brought you two to our base's prison."

Sanji bit his lip. „But what about the others? What about the rest of the crew? Did you catch them, too?"

„Nope."

„Why not? I thought you said-" Sanji was cut off.

„The ship's gone. Apparently Masa, the old moron, hadn't thought the crew would really leave without you."

Sanji gasped. What? They left? They left them to rot in that damned prison? But before the blond-haired man could answer, footsteps echoed through the hall. Then another voice was to be heard.

„Silence! Susumu, what do you think you're doing? You're not allowed to be talking to the prisoners, dumbass! And you, Blackleg, just shut your pathetic mouth until we ask you to talk, got it?" a dark voice barked and the two immediately went quiet.

„Y-yes, I'm sorry, Ken'ichi-san!" The other man referred as Susumu apologized. Ken'ichi sighed, murmuring something Sanji didn't catch. In the end, the captain didn't really care either and just sat back down. He carefully looked around only to see numerous spider webs above and around him. In the edge to his left side, where the spider had vanished, where some huge rats.

It was not that rats were that bad, it was just that they seemed to be really aggressive. Luckily, the bunch of rats was busy fighting over a piece of bone and ignored the young man who shared the same cell. Sanji shuddered, where those human bones? In fact, that was something he really didn't want to know! Making a disgusted face, the young man closed his eyes, trying to think of an escape plan.

There where walls behind him, to his left and to his right side and before him were those thick bars. No window. No other opening in one of the walls or the ground either. No chance to escape from here. Besides, even if he somehow managed to get out of this terrible cell, then he would still have the problem of finding Luffy.

Maybe the troublemaker wasn't even conscious at the moment? So he would have to drag the idiot out of here! No way. He couldn't fight numerous marines _and_ carry someone at the same time! That would never work, would it? Aaagh, this was so annoying!

Susumu and Ken'ichi, the two guards of his cell, sat down and began to talk about some stuff. Sanji tried to ignore it, it only annoyed him further. How should he think of how to break out if these stupid guys kept on blathering like that?

„Geez. Well, this sucks." Sanji stated in a quiet tone. If only Luffy were there, then he would at least have someone to talk to. Now they would have time to sort things out without anyone of the crew getting on their nerves by watching or listening. Too bad Luffy wasn't there. He was alone.

The only thing he could do at the moment was sit and wait in the darkness, listening to those annoying guards' talking.

**YXYXYXYXYXYXY**

„Mugiwara, spill the beens already. I'm tired of asking."

No answer came. Luffy didn't look the marine guy in the eyes. His gaze was upon the floor which seemed to be much more interesting than the man in front of him. Masa's eye twitched and he growled something under his breath.

Luffy was tied to a chair, heavy kairouseki chains around his hurting wrists. He felt weak but was determined not to show the tall marine guy called Masa in front of him. The seventeen-years-old just kept on staring at the dirty ground, completely ingoring Masa.

In front of Luffy was a small table where Masa sat on, holding a lamp. The bright light dazzled Luffy and the strawhat boy could only wonder why Masa bothered to hold the lamp, trying so desperately to let it shine right into his face. Did that marine guy think it was funny? What a childish guy, Luffy thought, rolling his eyes. If only he had a lamp to dazzle the arrogant baka too! Tch. How unfair!

The room they were in was quite small, there was hardly enough space for the two plus a table. There were no windows, so Luffy didn' t even know what time it was or whether it was day or night. There were strong looking guards behind the only entrance to the room, a small door made of pure metal.

No matter how Luffy looked at it, there was no way of escaping. He was trapped like a rat. But still, that didn't mean he had to cooperate with the bastards. Especially if they continued to treat him that bad! Luffy was extremely hungry and it was not that the marine guys didn't know that, they just didn't care. Plus, as he'd asked them where Sanji was, he had just recieved a kick as an answer. Honestly, that had been extremely rude of them, hadn't it?

Luffy really didn't get it, he just wanted to know where Sanji was and whether he was safe or hurt! Why didn't they give him any information? It was not that big of a deal, was it? Luffy just didn't see the problem, that was one of the many reasons he didn't like the marine: They were just too complicated!

The worst thing was, that they not only wouldn't bother to answer his questions, but dared to ask questions too. What did they expet of him anyways? That he talked to them freely while none of his questions were answered? Stupid marine. They were so annoying!

They had been asking him about plently of stuff: Why they chose to land on this island (even though Luffy thought it was pretty obvious they just needed to buy food), if they had plannedonkidnapping people of the town (a weird question in Luffy's opinion), if they had come to rape the women (a really really weird question!), where the rest of the crew where and things like that.

It was getting really boring for Luffy and he yawned tiredly, annoyed of this stupid game they wanted to play with him. Luffy wasn't in the mood either. Couldn't they just put him back in his cell? Really, all he wanted to do was sleep in peace, but they just wouldn't let him! These shitty kairouseki chains were weakening him a lot... wow, that had just sounded like Sanj-

„Goddammit, MUGIWARA!" A sudden loud shout caused Luffy's eyes to snap wide open again and he looked at the guy in front of him. The marine boss had jumped up, his chair crashing onto the floor, and hit his hand onto the table to emphazise his anger.

„Just answer my damn questions, will you!" It was not a question but rather an order and Luffy certainly disliked that tone of voice. Truth be told, this whole guy and his stupid attitude pissed him off. The guy thought he could get whatever he wanted if only he used enough force. Luffy frowned, he was not dumb enough not to notice things about that man. Masa was abusing his power to do so. He was a bad guy.

„Answer!" Masa shouted again and if it hadn't been for the lamp to dazzle Luffy, then he could have seen the dark red face of the ugly man.

Luffy just looked back at the ground. He wouldn't answer to this guy's questions. Never would he betray his nakama!

„Look at me! Look me in the eyes and tell me where the rest of your worthless crew is!" With that said, Masa bent forward and forcefully grabbed Luffy's face with his hand. With a rough movement he yanked the boy's head up, forcing Luffy to look at him.

Masa smirked. He only needed to scare the boy enough, then the mugiwara boy would soon begin to talk. It had always been Masa's most successful way of bringing someone to spill the beans and it never had failed. But much to Masa's surprise, Luffy's face didn't show fear. Instead, he glared hatefully up to the man.

For a few deadly silent seconds, Masa seemed deadpanned as he only stared at Luffy's hateful expression. 'This little rat!' he thought, gritting his teeth. Then, the tough marine glared at the teen and painfully squeezed Luffy's cheeks between his rough hand. Masa was really angry now and would let the boy feel that.

„Boy, lemme tell you this and listen closely, I'm only gonna say this once. Tell me what I want to know, otherwise you'd regret it later. You should not mess with me!"

Luffy cringed. „Okay, that was a lame threat, but your bad breath sure is suitable to scare someone." he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

To say Masa was pissed beyond anything was a clear understatement. His eye twitched in annoyance. Before Luffy knew it, Masa hit him with full force right into the face and he flew to the floor, moaning at the pain.

„The hell? You jerk, you wanna fight?" Luffy barked, spitting blood to the ground. He hated it if someone was fighting unfair. He was not only handcuffed but also tied to that dammed chair, how could he fight back proberly in his current situation?

But the black-haired pirate didn't have enough time to figure out an answer as the next blow came. He was sent against the next wall, blood splattering at the floor. Luffy winced as he felt his nose crack slightly from the impact. After all, the kairouseki made him pretty vulnerable, now he was nothing more besides a usual, defensless human.

„Scum." he could hear the bastard called Masa mutter. „Now open your dirty mouth and tell me where the rest of your crew is! Otherwise I won't keep on treating you so nice, Mugiwara, got it?"

Luffy frowned. What was wrong with this guy? Didn't he get the hints Luffy gave him? The teen hadn't been telling him anything up to now, so why did Masa think he would tell him now? What a weird guy.

„Nope." he simply replied. Masa snuffled angrily, then he turned away, deep in thoughts. A loud grumble from Luffy's stomach was the only thing to be heard, followed by a moan. „I'm hungry~"

Masa turned around and stepped to the door where he knocked against. A small window in the door opened and one of the guards took a look in. „Yes, sir?" the man outside asked.

„Get me a plate filled with Takoyaki and some Sushi too. Hurry up, will you?" Masa asked in an unfriendly way and turned away again. The guard saluted and did as he was told, his steps echoed in the long, dark hall.

Luffy's ears perked up as the words 'Takoyaki' and 'Sushi' were mentioned. „Yummy~" he said to himself, still lying on the ground as he couldn't stand up like he was. He loved Takoyaki! And Sushi was great, too! Well actually, Luffy would anything now, he felt like starving! Really, when was the last time he'd had a proper meal? Years must have passed since then!

After what felt like an eternity, a soft, almost timid knock was to be heard on the door. Masa immediately opened and took a huge tray of Sushi and Takoyaki. The octupus balls were still hot and emitted steam, making Luffy drool at the sight. Then a horrible thought crossed his mind. Were they going to torture him by forcing him to watch that delicious meal?

„So Mugiwara brat." Masa's voice caused Luffy to look away from the food. „I'll make a deal with you." Now Masa had Luffy's full attention. A deal?

„I guess violence doesn't bring you to talk, am I right?" Without giving Luffy time to answer, the man continued. „Anyways, how about I let you eat this wonderful food you surely like and in exchange for that you'll tell me where your crew is. How does that sound? I think it's only fair."

Luffy's eyes widened slightly. „You mean I am allowed to eat if I tell ya my nakama's position?" he asked innocently. Masa nodded, trying to be friendly. 'Heh heh. The boy took the bait! Now I got him!' the man thought, inwardly rubbing his hands. Oh, he would be so praised by Senghok for catching the whole strawhat cr-

„I have a better idea. Why don't you just take that food and shove it up your butt?" Luffy said, voice deadly serious while he glared at the marine boss.

„W-what?" Too perplex to say anything more intelligent, Masa gasped at that. Then he simply grabbed Luffy by the neck and threw him onto the floor. „You little pesky piece of shit!" Masa clenched his fists, the fire of fury burning in his eyes. „How dare you!"

Luffy, trying not to gasp at the pain, shot an angry death glare into the man's direction. „You bastard! As if I would betray my nakama for a plate of food!"

In his blind anger, Masa took the table and threw it against the opposite wall, breaking it to pieces. „Just shut your dirty mouth! All that comes out is useless trash!"

„Are you an idiot?" Luffy shouted back, caught up between surprise, wonder and anger. „First you want me to speak and then you keep on telling me to shut up! I think you should have your head checked sometimes!"

Masa couldn't take it anymore and smashed the filled plate into Luffy's face to make him shut up. „Stow it!"

Due to the fact Luffy was almost starving this didn't came unwelcomed. But still Luffy wouldn't try and eat it, even if it was a waste of food, because eating it would mean he'd give in. „You would be so dead if Sanji saw this..." the teen murmured to himself, then wiped his face off the ground.

„Sanji? That useless cook of yours? You won't be ever seeing him again, don't worry!" Masa barked, looking as if he would explode due to his red face.

That was it. That last comment literally made Luffy's blood boil. „How DARE you talk about one of my nakama like that! Like you know anything about him! He's the BEST and most talented cook in the world, and no one, all above not your _damn_ marine cooks, will EVER reach his level, you bastard!" The boy had shouted so loud that even the guards outside the door had caught it and looked at each other in wonder.

„You're so damn annoying! But don't worry, I'll make sure to wipe that stupid look outta your face! Hey, guards!" Masa yelled, shortly after that the door opened and a guard stepped in and saluted.

„Hai, sir!"

„Take this monstrosity and lock him away in his pathetic cell!" the marine boss ordered without wasting another glance at Luffy.

As the guards moved to take Luffy away, the teen struggled. „You Takoyaki's tasted horrible!" he added, panting like a dog, then the door was closed and Masa was left alone.

„Best cook... tch. Don't make me laugh, brat!"

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

„Do you think it's true?"

„What do you mean?" the other guard asked back. The two of them were on their way downstairs, towards the most pathetic cells of the whole marine prison. They had order to bring the by now, due to one of the marine doctor's injection unconscious, boy into his poor cell.

„That that cook of his," the other man nodded towards the boy in their arms, „is really that great?"

Luffy was wide awake, the two men only didn't know. He was tired of listening to them so just pretended the little injection had knocked him out. But still they wouldn't stop talking, how annoying! If he could get rid of those chains then he would kick their asses!

Suddenly, he widened his eyes. There, it was Sanji's voice! He was... talking about him...? Luffy bit his lip.

-**YXYXY**-

-A few seconds before-

Sanji's eyes shot open. Was there someone talking? Oh yeah, the two guards – Susumu and Ken'whatever were their names, right? - had also been talking before. He must have falled asleep. They were still talking?

Curious to what they were so heatedly discussing about, Sanji slowly got on all his fours and carefully crept nearer to the bars to hear better. While moving, he was careful not to rattle with his chains in which he succeeded.

Normally, he wouldn't give a damn about stuff the marine had to discuss privately, but this time Sanji felt it was something he should listen to. Besides, it was so damn boring he needed something to kill his time with beside sleeping.

„-is really stupid. It's a pity you haven't been with us, you should have seen him!" Susumu said, laughing. The other one shook his head.

„Was it really that funny?"

„Yeah! The kid was drooling all over the place as he saw the huge amount of meat! And I just gave him a piece of meat, and he took it without being suspicious since I wore the owner's clothes and he had no idea I was from the marine. So yeah, after one bite he blinked and just swallowed it whole! I couldn't believe my eyes, because the meat with the sleeping drug in it tasted differently and still he ate it!"

Ken'ichi smirked, one eyebrow risen. „Is he dumb or something?"

Sanji blinked. That sounded as if... were they talking about Luffy?

„Yeah, that's what I thought, too! Really, I feel kinda sorry for the crew. They must be pretty ashamed to show themselves in public together with that excuse of a captain. Probably the reason why they sent him and the other to buy something, he he!" Susumu respond, covering his mouth as he chuckled.

Sanji's eyes widened. So they were talking about Luffy indeed. Gritting his teeth, Sanji couldn't manage to hold in his anger and just burst out.

„ You shitty marines! Who do you think you are, judging about Luffy like you knew him?" Sanji inhaled deeply, fist clenched tightly. The two guards fliched and turned around, only to see a really pissed Sanji.

„Luffy is the GREATEST captain you could ask for! He's anything but dumb or unsuitable, he's the best! And you have absolutely no idea what he did for his nakama! So just shut up!" Sanji whished he could get out of that cell and just kick those bastard's asses, but those stupid bars and chains stopped him from going berserk.

For a few seconds, there was a tensed silence as the two guards tried to register what just had happened and Sanji trying to get his fury under control.

Suddenly, there were two persons nearing. Sanji couldn't see but hear two people talking. The guards' head snapped around.

„Uh, hi. We have orders to get that pirate boy back into his cell." One of them said. Sanji's cell guards nodded and the cell next to Sanji was opened.

The blond haired man could hear someone being thrown in, followed by an 'ouch'. So Luffy was here? Right next to him?

„Wow, that guy is conscious? How the hell did he wake up after getting that injection!" one of the men said, but no one answered to that. It was just Luffy.

„Thank God." Sanji muttered, his anger slowly vanishing. Then he blinked. Had Luffy heard what he said...? But then, it had been the truth, so why should he be ashamed by that now? Sanji didn't dare to say a word, it was still slightly embarrassing.

Then two new figure's appeared before his cell bars, the blond teen could tell by the sound of nearing footsteps. „So that's the oh-so-great cook?" he heard one of them whisper.

„What?" Sanji said, frowning. What where the morons talking about?

„He looks weak. And skinny. Can he even hold a pot? I doubt he is able to cook that well. The boy just wanted to act up with having a great cook. Mugiwara probably just tried to anger Masa-san more." The other man replied.

„That must it be. Let's go, Masa-san waits for us." With that, the two marines left as quick as they had appeared.

The two guards before Sanji's cell only looked dumbfounded at each other. „What the hell was that?"

„Let's just forget about that." Susumu suggested, trying to get a new converstation started with Ken'ichi.

Sanji gaped. Luffy had said that? Luffy had told them he had a great cook? Man... what should he say now to the boy?

„Sanji...?" he suddenly heard a voice coming from the cell next to him.

„Luffy?" Sanji immediately recognized the voice although it sounded quite weak. „What the hell happened to you? What were you doing?"

Luffy smiled, although Sanji couldn't see that."Forget it. How 'bout we break outta here? This place makes me sick." Luffy inhaled.

„ And I could eat a ton of meat right now. Sanji~ Promis you cook me something as soon as we're outta here. I'm starving~!" Luffy added, whining.

Sanji grinned. „Aye, captain!"

**YXYXYXYXYXYXYX**

**So, next chapter's going to be the last one! Hope you all enjoyed this one, pls keep on reading! :D **

**Reviews are always greatly appreciated, thanks for reading and until next time! =3**


	14. Coup de oops!

**So, with this chapter the story ends here! Somehow sad, huh? But it was pretty much fun to write this one and I enjoyed it! And thank you sooo much for all the kind and encouraging reviews! Love you guys for reviewing~! **

**ruby890: Sorry for not answering to your review last time! It was just that I got your review while the new chapter was already up... sorry anyways! But thanks a lot!**

**Scioneeris: Thanks! Aw that encourages me to hear that! :D That's just Luffy :3 Thank you very much!**

**AnimeLover3593: Welcome back! Thanks! I really worked hard to update quicker; this time though I failed a bit. Good thing if you found it funny then! :) Well, I'm sorry for that, hope this one will be better... but I somehow doubt it xD. That's great! Right, this chappie will clear the confusion. Thank you, also for reviewing most of the past chapters! :) **

**blacklightningwolf: Here you go! ;) **

**HappyGirl282: Lol I've experienced quite similar situations while reading other people's fanfics! xD But I'm glad you liked it! Aaaw thanks! :D I see, that sounds cool! Thanks for translating ;) I think your English is pretty good (besides, English isn't my mother tongue either and I do lots of mistakes). That is so kind of you! I love your reviews, they make me so happy! Thanks a thousand times :3 **

**Kaoru likes One Piece: Phew, I'm glad to hear that :D thank you!**

**DarkAndStormyNight: Yay that's great! Thanks! Well, they are a cute pairing, that's for sure x3 **

**I put a lot of work into this chapter and it took me some time to type it up, but I hope it's worth reading. I think it's the longest so far, so pls enjoy :D**

**Warning: lots of cursing**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Simple as that. (But I wanna~ nah, better Oda owns it xD)**

**YXXYXYXYXYXYXY**

**Chapter 14 – Coup de... ooops!**

Somehow, Sanji just felt like jumping into the other's cell and hug Luffy. He knew that sounded ridiculous but he couldn't help it. The nineteen-year-old just felt too happy at the moment. Despite the fact the two of them were practically helpless, locked away in the darkest and dirtiest place he'd ever seen, Sanji felt deeply relieved. Plus, he'd promised Zeff he would find the All Blue – as a cook, because that's a reason to why he wanted to find it! Not only to proof Zeff and the world that it existed but it was also a true paradise for cooks with all the kinds of fishes and other things to cook. The nineteen-year-old wanted to create new delicious meals, find new different tastes! What point would it be for Sanji to find it as a _captain_? It would feel totally wrong!

Now things would finally turn back to how it used to be! But the best thing: FINALLY, he could cook his gorgeous Nami-swan and Robin-chwan delicious meals again!

Sanji's visible eye turned into a crimson red heart at the imagination of the two beauties. He couldn't wait to get outta there and get back into _his_ kitchen! His hands began to itch at the thought.

Though, poor Sanji didn't know in what kind of state Luffy had left said kitchen – hopefully he wouldn't get a heart attack upon seeing the chaos there...

Anyways... Luffy, too, had a huge grin stretched from the one ear to the other, even though no one beside the stone wall was greeted with it. Luffy didn't care, he just was overjoyed that he could be himself again – the captain! And Sanji was his cook again! For the black-haired boy, things couldn't look better at the moment! After all, it was important for him to be captain, that's what he'd promised his idol Shanks, right? He'd said he would find at least ten crewmates and become the Pirate King – as a _captain_, not as a cook! Luffy couldn't just break the promise, it was a damn important thing to him!

Still, deep inside Luffy was a bit surprised though he'd actually asked his cook to make him something later. It had slipped out of his mouth – and it had been strangely easy to do so, easier than he'd thought.

The strawhat boy had just felt hungry and said that without thinking (as usual), like an old reflex. And it had felt oddly familiar to say that... though this phrase hadn't been used for some time due to their bet. Still it had felt damn good to say that. Now they could move on again. And, more importantly:

Soon he would be able to stuff his face into Sanji's awesomely yummy food again! He wished they were already back at their ship.

However, he knew very well neither him nor Sanji wanted to talk about what had happened really, and actually … there was no reason for it.

What should they tell each other? That they were sorry? That they had been wrong? Or that they had acted like a stupid four-year-old?

Luffy shook his head to himself. No. What good would it do to say that out loud? They both already knew that all – Sanji realized Luffy regretted his actions the moment the younger one had said '_promise you_ _cook me something!'... _and Luffy noticed Sanji was sorry as the older one had answered with_ 'aye captain!' _

That was what broke the ice between them. Two little sentences just changed their current situation and made the silly argument being forgotten already. Forgiven and forgotten. And now they could face their _true_ problems, like-

"Saaa,how do we break out now? I'm damn hungry~ What's the plan?" Luffy asked innocently and if it weren't for a two inches thick wall between them, then the captain's big brown eyes would have stared up to Sanji curiously.

Sanji on the other hand mentally slapped himself before answering-

"YOU are the captain, remember? It's YOU who should've thought of a way of esc- you know what, just forget it." The cook stopped himself in mid-sentence.

He just had to tell himself this was Luffy he was talking to, how could he expect some kind of escape plan? The only way the two of them could flee was if Sanji thought of a way. That meant the cook was their only hope as for the rest of the crew probably hadn't even realized they were captured.

Luffy blinked, and even if the other couldn't see it it was pretty obvious Luffy would show a clueless expression. "Okay." the seventeen-year-old just replied.

Then something struck Sanji. Luffy's voice sounded... foreign. "Luffy?"

"Yeah?"

That was it. Sanji's eyes widened slightly. The shitty seastone was making his captain's voice sounding so _weak. _It had sounded fragile before, but now Luffy's 'yeah' reminded him of a dyingcat! Did that dammed kairouseki have such a big impact on Luffy after all? Darn. The blond didn't even want to imagine the many seastone chains wrapped around his captain's wrists, ankles and neck.

So, first they somehow needed to get rid of those damned kairouseki chains! Sanji knew he wouldn't stand a chance against the marine fighters of this base, he needed Luffy by his side to support him in fights. Or maybe it was just the other way round, knowing Luffy was a badass fighter... but with the captain being in such a state Sanji couldn't really rely on Luffy's support.

Sanji sighed, not quite knowing what he should do next. The darkness around him made him shiver, as well as the sudden silence. Not even the weird guards spoke now as they didn't know what to talk about. Or were they perking their ears into their direction to hear what captain and cook were whispering about?

The cook absent-mindly scratched his head, pushing that thought to the back of his mind. Instead he was desperately trying to figure out how to flee.

'Well, let's see...' he thought, quietly making his way over to the bars. He tried to avoid any noise as best as possible, not to catch Ken'ichi's and Susumu's attention. Luckily, the two didn't noitce that movement and continued to do whatever they were doing (trying not to fall asleep).

Those bars seemed made out of pure metal, and Sanji reasoned with his razorlike mind he would not be able to break them with his kicks. The bars were made to kept anything inside the cell, no matter how strong 'it' was. Beside, even IF he could manage to break them, then hell would break loose. In less than two seconds _hundreds_ of guards would arrive and then he _still_ would need to free Luffy. Sanji couldn't do that all on his own! Nope, that was out of question.

The cook grumbled in slight anger as he made his way back to his spot where he talked with Luffy before. The blonde's chains rattled a bit due to that, but no one complained.

"This is bad," Sanji finally hissed to his captain, coming to the conclusion that there was no way they could break free,"What are we gonna do?"

Before Luffy could answer, one of the guards kicked against the bars, shocking the cook by that. "You there! Just shaddap! We don't allow whispering 'bout how to escape! So close your filthy mouth!"

Sanji grit his teeth in anger, growling 'Come and make me, bastard!' under his breath. Damn those guards. If only Luffy weren't chained with this shitty kairouseki...! That reminded him. It was silent in the other cell. That was rather odd. _Silence_ and _Luffy_ normally weren't mentioned in one and the same sentence!

Luffy didn't answer, and no sound of his chains were heard anymore too – leaving Sanji wondering whether the other had fallen asleep.

The nineteen-year-old waited a few seconds for Ken'ichi to settle down again, then he pressed his ear against the cold wall, carefully whispering: "Oi, Luffy"

No answer. _Silence_.

Sanji rose his curly brow. Hadn't Luffy heard him? Maybe Sanji's voice had been too quiet? After all, this shitty wall was between them and he'd just whispered. No wonder Luffy didn't hear him.

That's why Sanji tried again, this time a little louder.

"Luffy!" he almost hissed like a cat. A blue eye travelled nervously towards the guards. Phew, they didn't seem to have noticed. But then the cook knitted his brows together in irritation. Luffy hadn't noticed as well, despite the fact the captain had good ears.

"Hello? Oi! Don't just fall asleep!" Sanji waited, then continued, "We need to get outta here, remember? Damn shitty rubber brain!" Somehow frustrated, the cook began to curse like he always did when annoyed.

Unconsciously he reached out to the pocket of his shirt, searching for his pack of cigarettes. To his surprise, he grabbed into pure emptiness.

"Shit." Was all Sanji could say right now. Honestly, could it get any worse? The cook wanted to smoke a cigarette, just a single one so badly. Actually, he would die for just taking one drag!

But Sanji was too proud to ask one of the guards for a little smoke, heh as if!

The next time he'd face Ken'bastard and Susumu-asshole was after he kicked their asses!

A weak cough coming from his nakama's cell snapped Sanji out of his daydreaming. "Luffy?" he asked, cringing at his own loud voice, echoing through the cell and hall. Uh-oh.

Susumu shot up from his sitting position and turned to look into Sanji's cell. "What part of 'shut up' don't you understand?" the marine guy shouted, not having the nerve to deal with an annoying prisoner at the moment.

That was it. "Goddammit, I don't care about that! Something's wrong with my captain and I'm trying to figure out what it is!" Sanji shouted back, at least as loud as Susumu but with much more force.

Susumu blinked and almost took a step back at the sudden outburst of the prisoner. "What the hell?" he asked back, by now he was more confused than angry.

Ken'ichi stood up as well now. "Darn it, do you think we're dumb?" Sanji wanted to reply something, half-snickering to himself, but the other was quicker.

"Don't try to fool us, boy! We won't be tricked that easily you know. It is like the oldest way to escape, pretending to be sick or s'mething!" The marine guy barked.

"Heck, I ain't pretending anything and nor is Luffy! I bet you made him sick with your friggin' seastone fuck!"

"Oh screw you!" Ken'ichi shouted. Susumu and Sanji shut their mouths for a second to register what the marine guard just had said. That had been rather... awkward; it simply came unexpectedly from the usually polite man. They blinked at Ken'ichi, but it was too dark for the man to realize their glances. But the sudden silence made him suspicious.

"What? This stupid guy annoyed me!" He said, a weak attempt to defend himself. Susumu and Sanji then decided to shrug it off. They had other things to worry about, hadn't they?

"I tell you, Luffy's sick or something!" Sanji said a bit less aggressive. They needed to understand! Luffy just wouldn't answer, and even though the cook would not admit that before anyone, he was concerned for his captain.

"Y'know, Ken'ichi-san, I don't think he's playing or something... now that I think of it, how should this Luffy guy have been able to tell his cook he would be pretending to be sick? We heard what they said all the time, didn't we?" Susume started in a low whisper but Sanji still caught it.

The younger one of the two guards continued. "Plus, do you really think that rubber head would be able to think of something like that himself?" A chuckle followed. A vein popped up on Sanji's forehead. Those two shitheads.

"Alright, alright. I guess you got a point there." Ken'ichi had to admit what Susumu said wasn't that wrong. It sounded logical to him, so maybe the stupid pirate captain really was ill? But then, why did they worry? Ken'ichi shook his head to himself, taking his time to respond before he finally answered:

"You know what's written on his wanted poster, right?"

"What do you mean, Ken'ichi-san?"

Ken'ichi smirked. "Dead or Alive." he just said and realization hit Susumu.

"Ooh, I see. So.. it's not our business if Strawhat feels _uncomfortable_, is it?" Susumu grinned.

"You got it right." was the answer.

"You two good-for-nothing twerps! I'll roast you as soon as I'm outta here!" Sanji yelled, causing the two oh-so-strong guards to flinch as the cook's face was right behind the bars.

"What was that, you-" Susumu started but was interrupted by a loud groan. Now all six- pardon Sanji, all _five_ eyes wandered to Luffy's cell.

"See! Did that sound unreal? Luffy's everything but a good actor, you should be able to judge by looking at that dumbass! Now at least check at him, damn it!" Sanji said.

The two guards seemed to look at each other for seconds. Then one of them sighed heavily, murmuring 'Fine!' and walked up to the cell to open the door.

The two guards went in, calling out Luffy's name. No answer. Sanji began to nibble on his bottom lip. What was going on? What had the shitty marines done to his captain before?

Normally nothing could harm Luffy that easily, could it? Or was Luffy just... ? No, Sanji really didn't think Luffy could be able to do that with the rubber brain of his... on the other hand, the cook thought, the captain never failed to amaze him, did he? Oh well, the nineteen-year-old would just have to wait a little longer to get an answer.

"Oi, mugiwara. Answer!" Sanji heard them say. He himself held his breath, being unable to do anything else beside listening to what was going on in the other's cell.

"Mugi- ah, there you are lazy bum. Now quit acting like all dead or somethin'." Ken'ichi voiced, trying to sound gruff but failed as he touched Luffy's expressionless face. Still, the boy didn't answer.

"So, Ken'ichi-san, what's wrong with him? Is he unconscious?" Susumu asked, almost whispered as if he was afraid Luffy would hear him.

"I think he is, he doesn't answer at all." The other replied. Obviously, the strawhat teen was lying on his side, eyes closed, breathing even. Almost as if he was sleeping.

Ken'ichi let out an annoyed sight, before he turned around to face Susumu, although he couldn't make out the others' face in the darkness. Damn those pitch black cells with no lights.

"Let's go out, that damned brat's just sleepin'." He grumbled, and wanted to add 'such a waste of time!' but the moment Ken'ichi inhaled to speak, he felt _something_ grab his ankle.

Sanji was startled to hear the marine guard let out a surprised yelp. Immediately, the cook jumped up and went to lean his ear against the wall to hear better. 'What the heck is going on in Luffy's cell?' he wondered. Deeply inside however, the blonde had quite an idea of what was happening.

"Ken'ichi-san?" Susumu whispered in horror, unconsciously taking one huge leap back. Ken'ichi cursed.

"Damn you, mugiwara! Let go of my ankle, NOW!" the man barked, blindly kicking into different directions, hoping to hit the boy.

Luffy however grinned, eyes wide open by now. He was still on the ground, but now the captain's hands had a tight grip around Ken'ichi's ankle.

Then, it all happened really fast; Ken'ichi managed to land a hit in the boy's face. Luffy growled while using all the strength he could collect at that moment, and with one surprisingly powerful movement he managed to yank Ken'ichi off his feet.

Sanji slightly chuckled to himself upon hearing the dull noise of someone crashing onto the floor. Some chains rattled, apparently Luffy was standing up.

"Ya stupid, little-" Ken'ichi began and wanted to shot up again, eager not to let himself being beaten by a chained prisoner. But the marine should have stayed still; it would have been healthier for him. Alas, Ken'ichi wanted to fight instead. What a mistake.

The next thing the guard knew was that he was not only engulfed by absolute pitch black darkness, but also by some stars dancing before his eyes. Luffy had smashed the guy's head mercilessly into the ground.

"Y-y-you...! D-don't near me! S-stay where you are, that's an order!" Susumu stuttered in pure fear, his back meeting the bars. Oh how he wished he'd stayed out of the cell! Why had he given in in the pleas of the damned cook? Why had he been so naïve? But no, Susumu's curiosity had pushed him into that cell together with Ken'ichi.

Upon hearing that, Luffy laughed, stepping nearer to Susumu. "Are you stupid?" he began, his voice echoing through the cell, "I'm captain, I don't take orders! The one who gives them is ME!" he said half-amused, half-serious.

'Damn rubber brat' Sanji thought, grinning into the darkness.

Susumu's eyes widened. Luffy's silhouette was right in front of him, and the guard cursed the chains for being long enough for Luffy to reach the bars. But then, the cells were pretty small.

"F-freak!" Was the only word that could escape Susumu's parted lips as Luffy punched the man in the face. Being young and unexperienced when it came to fights, Susumu didn't even dodge (would have been hard in the darkness either way) and was out like a light after receiving the hit.

Luffy cracked his knuckles and turned around to Ken'ichi. He was sure that guy had to have the ke-

Ah!

"Bingo!" Luffy said, and soon after that the keys rattled. Sanji cheered inwardly, but was too stunned to say something. So Luffy had _planned_ it? _His_ captain had actually planned something and it had _worked_? Okay, it had been a really really simple, old trick Luffy'd used, but still-

'WTF?' Sanji blinked. Wow, he'd never have expected Luffy to really... use his brain once! Stunning enough to know the rubber teen actually had one...! And the guards really fell for it, too! (Okay, Sanji did too, but in his opinion that didn't need to be mentioned...)

"Miracles really do happen..." the cook muttered. The teen always succeeded in taking him aback.

Seconds later, Luffy stood in front of Sanji's cell, the keys in his hand.

"You really did it!" Luffy nodded. "Now hurry before the other guards will realize!" Sanji added in a whisper.

"What other guards? There's no one else beside us in this area." the teen responded, sensing no one else's presence. And it was really silent there too. Still Luffy was frantically searching for the right key, he'd had trouble to find the right one for his cuffs before.

"... But I don't think they would let us escape just like that... it had been too _easy_! I got a bad feeling, so just hurry!" Sanji pressed. Beside that, he couldn't bear to think he was sharing the same room with those terribly huge spiders any longer!

Finally, the door to the cell made a 'click' sound and was swung open. Quickly Luffy went in and didn't waste any time to try the different keys out on Sanji's locks.

Minutes passed, no words were spoken, and eventually the cook felt the uncomfortable pressure on his wrists disappear. His cuffs fell to the ground, creating a nice echo through the hall.

Sanji hissed, hoping no one had noticed. It had sounded pretty loud considering it was the only noise that could be heard in the entire darkness.

"Ugh, finally!" Sanji said as he made his way out of the cell, followed by Luffy. He rubbed his sore wrists, then turned around to the other. "Good job, Luffy!" he praised his captain who just grinned.

"Seriously, I didn't think you'd come up with that old idea. Actually, that was a nice move on your side." Sanji admitted as they hurried through the hall, passing numerous empty cells. The more they walked forward, the brighter it got. At the end of the hall was a small light, the only light to be seen at all. Sanji prayed for it to be the exit.

"Ah well," Luffy answered, "not too long ago Usopp told Chopper and me this awesome story and-"

"The short version, Luffy." Sanji interrupted as he opened the door and found a stair that went up.

"-anyways, he mentioned someone who was a prisoner as well and-"

Was the word 'short' that difficult for Luffy to understand? Sanji rolled his eyes. "Luffy!"

"-ah well, anyways, the poor cool prisoner used a similar trick to break out so that's where I got it from!"

Sanji 'tchd' but a fond smile was to be seen upon his face. "I see."

He made a silent note to himself to give the sniper extra food for filling Luffy's and Chopper's heads with his story-crap again. Because today Sanji had learned that sometimes.. that crap could be really more than useful.

They raced up the stairs, and Sanji tried to push his negative feelings away. 'This is too easy!' he thought over and over again, silently hoping this wasn't a trap and that the marines there would be actually too stupid to notice Luffy and him escaping.

But who was he fooling? There was no way the marine would the two pirates with such high bounties flee like that! Beside, this prison didn't seem to have many prisoners anyway, so that was only another reason for the marine to focus on him and Luffy.

After what seemed only a few minutes, they stopped in front a the door and looked at the light above it. Sanji carefully opened it, and, much to his dismay, found himself in another dark room, but not as dark as the hall. The two almost could recognize the colours, not that the room was that colourful.

The room seemed bigger than the hall they had been in a moment ago. Luffy was right behind him.

"Tehee! The old tricks are the best after all!" Luffy then giggled childishly, thinking of how he'd managed to fool Ken'ichi and Susumu. Sanji, turning around, chuckled too, what Luffy said was somewhat true.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The younger one fell forward and if it weren't for the cook to catch him in mid-air, Luffy'd have hit the ground face first.

"Oi oi, Luffy! Pull yourself together!" Sanji said, looking down at the teen in his arms. Luffy seemed pretty exhausted, probably due to the seastone cuffs. But still, this collapse had come out of the blue! "Seastone effect?"

He felt Luffy nod. "You okay?" Sanji asked, this time a little softer. Before his captain could answer however, the hall was floated with light and Sanji had to shut his eyes at the sudden brightness.

"Now now, trying to escape aren't we?" a voice chuckled and immediately Sanji felt Luffy tense in his arms.

Slowly, the strawhat boy went to stand by Sanji's side again, on his own. The cook was unsure whether Luffy could stand at all, he looked pale and his legs seemed to give out under his weight any second. But one look at the boy's determined and serious expression told Sanji there was no need to worry.

If Luffy wore that face, than he could be damn sure the boy wouldn't collapse any time soon. Because this was the other side of Luffy, the side he hardly showed anyone beside enemies. This was the Luffy you don't want to deal with, because if he was like this you were happy to be his friend and not enemy. There was no sigh of the usually happy, carefree, five-year-old face of Luffy.

"Masa" Luffy only said and looked with intense eyes at the tall guy in front of them.

Sanji frowned, this wasn't good! They were surrounded by lots of marines with numerous guns pointed at the two. Sanji's eye darted around the room, silently calculating if they would make it to the door in time without getting hurt, finding no other way to flee as there were no windows.

The nineteen-year-old however came to the conclusion that with the huge amount of marines at once it would be a damn difficult thing not to get shot while dashing to the door.

'Which is probably locked. Darn.' The cook clenched his fists at their hopeless situation.

"Oh, you actually remember my name? I feel honored." the man known as Masa commented and Sanji decided he didn't like that guy.

" I must apologize though, I can't remember your name. You know, I can't remember all names of the worms in that prison after all... you must have been no serious danger then... nothing important."

Luffy only glared at Masa, not bothering to answer to that. Sanji's visible eye twitched. What an ass. The guy only said those things to annoy him and Luffy, which pissed the cook off to no end.

Suddenly, Sanji noticed something in the right edge of the room. He blinked. "A camera?" he accidentally said out loud, drawing all attention to him. Sanji bit his lip as all eyes were on him.

Masa however seemed to find this very amusing. "Oh, so you've figured out how we noticed about your ridiculous escaping plans?"

As nor Sanji neither Luffy answered, Masa continued.

"Well, the truth is we've been watching your pathetic actions since your and your captain knocked the two morons out. That was a hell of fun to watch, and let you think you could actually flee. How hilarious. As if I would make it that easy for you! Naïve jerks!"

His laughter filled the deadly silent room, and the echo bounced off the walls, making it sound creepy and Sanji and Luffy feel a little ashamed.

"Are you done with your crap speech now? 'Cause I don't care 'bout that anyways, I just wanna kick your ass and break out. Got it?" Luffy caused Masa to shut up at once and look at him with wide, shocked eyes.

Sanji first looked at Luffy as if he'd grown a head, and then a chuckle left the cook's mouth. That was so typical for Luffy, he always said what was on his mind and got right straight to the point.

Sanji liked that trait of his captain; Masa however obviously disliked it as he glared daggers at the boy.

"Very well then, you dim-witted brat! If you're asking for it, then I'm not getting in your way! Men, FIRE!" he shouted and gave his men a sign with his hand.

Immediately, the too familiar sound of gunfire was heard, and Sanji instinctively went into dodging mode, not even thinking about how ridiculous it was to try and dodge that many bullets.

Luffy however got a hold of Sanji's tie, which the cook responded with 'LUFFY DON'T!' but Luffy was deaf to this. Instead, he reacted fast, too fast for anyone to stop him, and threw Sanji into the air before the bullets could reach the two.

The last thing Sanji could hear was 'Gomu gomu no FUUSEN (=balloon) !' before his face made contact with the ceiling.

As Sanji crashed back onto the floor - Luffy obviously forgot he'd thrown his cook into the air and didn't bother to catch him – he coughed harshly, trying to clear his vision. The blond wasn't that surprised to see a slight bulge in the ceiling that looked exactly like a copy of his face. 'You'll get that back later, Luffy!' he thought, rubbing his throbbing nose.

Not only the marines but Masa himself were taken aback by this sudden turn of events. The marine boss truly hadn't expected Luffy to just bounce the bullets back to them! Luckily, the man was an experienced fighter and did indeed manage to dodge those bullets that came back.

A lot of his men however hadn't been that lucky or rather didn't have the reflexes to dodge and lay on the ground, wounded or worse. Still there were a few tough men standing, re-loading their guns and ready to fire again.

"Men, FI-" Masa said, this time he wanted his men to only aim at the none-rubber human, Sanji. A few other marine fighter took out some weird guns and pointed them at Luffy, who didn't even see them, completely focused on Masa for once. Besides, Luffy was confident in his rubber powers that guaranteed him to be safe of every kind of bullet.

The strawhat captain growled and began a mad dash into Masa's direction, aiming for the man's head. Masa smirked, eyes narrowing and he quickly looked at the three men by his side, shouting-

"Shoot! NOW!" towards them.

Sanji saw this and wanted to warn his captain, but it was already too late. It happened too fast. Every marine in the room was firing with whatever they got. Just as the cook wanted to shout at Luffy to jump to the side, he could feel an awful pain.

A bullet just crashed through his right shoulder blade, another one had found it's way into Sanji's left leg, making him groan in terrible pain as he fell to the floor, grabbing his wounded area.

The other pirate stopped upon hearing his nakama groan, and turned around in pure horror.

"SANJI!" Luffy screamed his name, but Sanji currently was blocking everything out, trying to deal with the immense pain. Blood was splattered on the ground, forming a small pool around Sanji.

Two pairs of feet dashed towards the cook, desperately trying to reach him as fast as possible, and Luffy called Sanji's name again. Just the moment the captain was about to touch Sanji, he could feel something around him. Luffy's eyes widened and he yelped, crashing to the ground beside his nakama.

"HA, Got him!" Masa smirked at his triumph, showing his unnatural white teeth. "I'm so proud of myself! I managed to catch the infamous Mugiwara no Luffy! And his cook!"

Luffy looked utterly confused, despite being caught in a kairouseki net, not caring about that for a second. "E-eh? I thought you didn't remember my name before." he said weakly, the seastone net was already draining all his energy. "You make no sense!" he added, almost whining.

Sanji cracked one eye open and managed a small smile as he looked into Masa's direction and saw the man was practically exploding.

"You rude little pest!" Masa yelled, unable to control his anger. "How stupid can you be?"

"Oh shut up, will you!" Sanji half-goaned, half-barked. He was so tired of this man's behavior and this arrogant attitude of his!

A wave of pain made him closing his eyes tightly shut. "Uhh!" Shit, that shoulder and leg of his really hurt a lot!

"D-dang it..." Luffy said, weakly struggling to get rid of that net he was in. "You don't f-fight fair...!"

Masa chuckled. "Boy, if I had fought fair against evil, where do you think I would be today? Certainly not in this well-known prison, and I certainly wouldn't be the head of this all, the boss!"

"Maybe you would be better off dead..." Sanji muttered, panting like a dog. 'Damn' he thought, 'I'm losing way too much blood! If only I could help Luffy out of that shitty net... this can't be the end, right?' So many thoughts were racing through the hurt cook's mind.

Lucky for him though, Masa seemed to be deaf as he hadn't heard the last comment. Instead, he began to grin evilly. "So, I wonder what I will do next with you, now that you are my prisoners again?"

Both Sanji and Luffy looked at each other, both pale and weak, but still confused by the last sentence. 'What the hell?' They thought at the same time, raising their brows.

"That sounded like a pervert." Luffy commented, not caring if that sounded rude or not. He disliked Masa, and he wouldn't stop saying what was on his mind just because of him. Beside, Luffy wouldn't let himself being scared by the freak, and nor would Sanji.

"Indeed," Sanji agreed without thinking about it twice, and then realized his mistake.

"SHUT IT! That means death sentence for you!" Masa decided in a tone that didn't leave any space for arguments. Some marine fighters looked a little startled by this, but tried to keep their calm expression.

Masa went up to Luffy and grabbed him by the hair, causing Luffy to growl. "Ow! Bastard, leggo!"

The marine boss wasn't pleased to hear this and slapped the teen across the face. "Silence! You little good-for-nothing...! I could have spared your lives but I just can't stand seeing your damned face and hearing your shitty voice anymore!" the man nearly shouted, even though Luffy was only inches away.

"And as your punishment you will have to watch your crewmate die." A huge smirk was to be seen on Masa's face. That teen really had been easy to look through. Luffy gasped loudly.

"This is your greatest weakness, Monkey D. Luffy!" Masa added, laughing. "The weakness to care for your subordinates!"

Luffy saw red. What Masa said wasn't only pissing him off, it was making him FURIOUS. How dared that bastard talk about his nakama like that? As if his nakama were his _subordinates_!

"You damn...! How dare you!" the seventeen-year-old nearly screeched.

Sanji grit his teeth, and while trying to stay awake, saw how Luffy began to bite into the kairoseki net around him, making his lip bleed. 'Luffy...'

Sanji hardly ever saw his captain like that; Luffy was nearly out of his mind by now, only wanting to get rid of the net and kick the guys ass.

Sanji knew how much Luffy cared for all of his comrades, consequently it was no wonder that this was Luffy's biggest nightmare: Unable to help his nakama while watching them getting hurt... or killed.

"You... you bastard! To hell with you, I'll kick your ass as soon as I come outta that net!"Luffy began to shout frantically. Three marine fighters, those who were still standing, went up to him and dragged him away, leaving Sanji alone on the ground, surrounded by two marines with guns. Luffy watched helplessly as three pairs of feet stomped down on him to hold him still.

"Damn you! Lemme go! Let HIM go, bastard! Sanji!"

Sanji heard his captain's voice crack at the end and he himself could only stare as weapons were aimed at him.

"Dang it..." Sanji muttered, unable to get up or move out of the way. The pain was too much at once and it left Sanji in wonder whether the bullet had been poisoned. Sanji'd been shot before and still managed to get up and continue to fight. But this time, this time it was different.

He felt so weak and was about to pass out right there! There was nothing but pain and it made him wanna black out and being embranced by the hands of sleep... or worse, just to make this pain go away, just to stop this suffering. It was almost unbearable and it became worse.

Sanji, laying on the floor while desperately clutching to his throbbing shoulder, struggled. Was this his end? Would he die here, in this god forsaken, dirty and dark place? Just because of all this shitty bet that had triggered this misery somehow? …. Would he ever see his gorgeous Nami-swan and Robin-chwan again...?

There was one thing though that seemed to set his mind at ease, at least a little bit. Sanji was pleased to know he would die as a _cook, as himself,_ and not as a captain...

The cook saw how his captain still tried to break free and it reminded him of a lion that had gone mad. That made him smile. Luffy would fight for his nakama til the very end, and that was one of the many things of him that made Luffy the best captain in the world.

Masa smiled, nodding his head into Sanji's direction to show his men that they should fire now. This was the time when Sanji's fuzzy mind seemed not to register any sound anymore. It became silent around him, the only thing he could hear was the loud bumping of his heart that struggled to continue.

And then the men were about to shoot with the intention to end Sanji's short life. Luffy practically exploded upon seeing this.

"No, goddammit, NO! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Suddenly, something seemed to break through the barrage that blocked Sanji's ears... and what he heard was none other than Luffy, shouting from the top of his lungs.

But that wasn't what caused everyone in the room, including the stunned cook, to freeze in place, mouth agape. Silence filled the room as the temperature seemed to drop four degrees.

Then the marines that surrounded the cook dropped their guns, they began to throw up and collapse on the floor, one after another.

Sanji felt how the blood in his vains seemed to freeze for a second, and an ice cold shudder crept down his spine. The cook could only gulp.

"W-wow... what was that..?" he said to no one in particular as he tried to figure out what just had happened. Just as quick as it had occured, it was over again.

Looking around, Sanji realized that only Masa was standing anymore. The tough marine guy looked unhealthy pale. He just stared at Luffy as if the boy was an inhabitant who came from Mars. Luffy seemed unfazed and glared right back, making Masa taking a step back.

Sanji blinked.

Had Luffy... just done that? All marines were out like a light beside Masa! Just as if... they had been knocked out by some invisible force! Sanji still got goosebumps from that!

"Y-you..."Masa stuttered, all arrogance suddenly replaced by fear, nothing but true fear. The man began to shiver uncontrollably as he eyed Luffy while sweating up a storm. "Monster! Y-you FREAKY MONSTER!" he shouted, again and again.

Luffy only continued to glare back, then moved a little as he finally wanted to get rid of the net which made him so weak. The marines that had hold him down before were around Luffy, unconscious, so the teen could move a little now.

Masa bit his lip and reached into the pocked of his jacket. Pulling out a small Den Den Mushi, the man immediately gave order to send more marine fighter into that room to support him. Then he shut it off and glanced at Luffy, trying to hide his fear.

"I'll end this for once and for ever! So that you won't ever leave this prison of mine alive!" Masa pulled out a knife that glistened in the light of the lamp that hung on the ceiling.

Sanji, finally being able to snap out of it, shook his head as his vision blurred again. "Luffy, move! He's got a knife, you gotta do something! " he only managed to shout as his throat felt too hoarse.

Luffy struggled to get up, to somehow fight back, but it was useless. The more he began to move around, the more he seemed to grow weak. It was like a curse; the curse of the Akuma No Mi.

"You don't scare me, bastard!" Luffy said, still lying on his back. He felt like a helpless fish. A fish that got caught by a tight net and had to wait for its head to be chopped off.

Sanji cursed without holding back. Masa lifted his hand, smirking insanely down at Luffy, and then...

_BAM!_

Before anyone could even blink, Masa was knocked away by yet another mystery force. But this time it hadn't been due to Haoshoku Haki but rather to... an _object_ that had crashed through the stone wall.

Both Sanji and Luffy gasped upon seeing this, and if Masa had been conscious, he probably would have gone out of his mind seeing that. Or rather gotten a heart attack.

"I just wanted to beat them up… but no, she doesn't listen to me, of course not! Stupid witch!" a gruff voice was to be heard. Luffy blinked in shock. _Zoro…?_

"The hell, Franky? I said starboard! RIGHT! Not LEFT!" an all too familiar voice shouted from the deck of the ship.

"Woops! Sorry, Nami-sis, I guess I was just too caught up with my Coup de-" a cyborg said, sounding slightly stressed.

"I don't care, dumbass! Look what you did!" Nami cut him off roughly and made him shut up in her own special way. Means she hit him very hard across the head.

The two prisoners couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Was this really true and not a hallucination...? It couldn't be, could it?

"MINNA!" Luffy said, breaking out into his trademark grin despite the fact he felt like just falling asleep due to exhaustion. Though to say he was overjoyed and a bit surprised to see all of his nakama, _including_ the _Thousand Sunny_, was a complete understatement!

"So this is where the two of you have been the whole time... we've been worrying sick about you two twerps!" Nami barked. "Oh drat, what happened to you? What's with that blood everywhere?"

And for once in his life, the cook completely ignored her.

"Holy crap what are you doing here!" Sanji couldn't help but shout in shock. This completely weird crew just _flew_ into that damned prison with their _ship_! I's not surprising that Sanji's a little overreacting, was it?

Zoro chuckled, jumping off the ship as he walked into Luffy's direction. "Saving your butt, even though you don't deserve it." he simply replied. "Hm, Luffy maybe does." Zoro added while smirking.

Pulling out his sword, he freed his captain as the net was opened in one cut. Zoro helped Luffy up who looked totally happy with his current situation.

"Aaah, thanks Zoro!" the seventeen-year-old said cheerfully, grinning as he dusted off his clothes. Luffy shot one more glare at the cold out Masa, before he turned around.

"Oi, Chopper! You gotta take a look at Sanji!" he called for his little doctor and immediately a pink hat popped up behind the railing.

Two eyes became huge as they spotted the hurt cook in his own pool of blood. "Wha? OMIGOSH SANJI!" With that, Chopper was by the blond haired man's side within seconds. "Somebody, call the doctor, emergency!"

Usopp, who jumped down as well as the rest of the crew, only rolled with his eyes. "Geez, YOU are the doctor, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Chopper went into doctor mode and started to treat Sanji's wounds at once.

"What the heck happened here?" Nami looked around in the room, only to find numerous unconscious marine fighters.

"Yohohoho! My my, what a chaos!" Brook commented, also stunned by the fact you needed to look out not to step accidentally on one of them. "Are you alright, Luffy-san? What happened to Sanji-san?"

Luffy's head snapped around and he smiled. "Yo, Brook! Yosh, my energie's back!" he said and as if to emphasize his statement began to pound on his chest to prove his strength. "Well, they tried to execute Sanji." he then said matter-off-factly.

"NANI?" everyone, excluding Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Sanji, shouted.

"It's true, and they failed twice." Sanji said weakly. But he was glad to see the others were okay; first he thought they'd been caught too!

'But it has to take more than just a bunch of arrogant marines to catch my clever Nami-swan and Robin-chwan! The other idiots maybe, but not my two gorgeous beauties!' Sanji giggled inwardly upon thinking of the two women.

"Twice?" Nami asked, pretty sure she didn't want to know what was going on inside of Sanji's mind. She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, somehow... they got knocked out by something.. I think it was Luffy's doing." Sanji explained, only for Chopper to shriek.

"Sanji! No talking, you're terribly wounded!" But at that moment that went by unnoticed by the cook.

"Eh? What did I do?" Luffy asked dumbly and pointed to himself.

"That's what I would like to know, too... anyways, it had been like... a shockwave? No, it was different, but something similar like that... I have to admit, it was somewhat creepy." Sanji coughed and Chopper barked at him for talking once again.

"No way, you mean that moron knocked them all out without even touching them?" Usopp gasped, looking at his captain with some more respect. If that was even possible as the sniper held the highest amount of respect for the fool called Luffy.

"I know that Luffy is a badass when it comes to fighting but this is ridiculous. Even for him." Nami said, shaking her head with a frown.

Could it be true? What the heck had Luffy done then? How did he manage to hit them with his... pure will? This sounded...odd. Could someone really do something like that?

"Huh?" Luffy only blinked. He'd done something like that? "Weird, I haven't even noticed. I just know that I was pretty pissed off."

"Why am I not surprised to hear this?" Zoro said more to himself, crossing his arms.

The others seemed more or less lost in thoughts, wondering about what had happened back then. Robin had her finger on her chin, narrowing her eyes on her captain. "Some invisible force, huh..." she murmured. "Interesting."

"Cool move, Luffy-bro!" Franky posed, finding it all very super to hear.

"Oh, Franky!" Luffy greeted the cyborg. Then it made 'ding' in Luffy's brain and his mouth formed an 'o'. "So this is your doing?" the teen said, pointing to the Sunny.

"How come you figured that out so fast, captain?" Sanji said half-jokingly. At once, it went deadly silent again.

"Captain?"

"We've settled our bet. Sorry for dragging you guys into that." Sanji said.

"Yup!" Luffy agreed happily.

Nami sighed. "Took you two pinheads long enough... anyways, let's get outta here, ne?" She winked and went back onboard. "Now that we have our two fools back, there's no reason for us to stay any longer, right?"

Everyone smiled at this. "Right!"

**XYXYXYXYXYXYXY**

~_**Epilog**_~

"How did you find us anyway?" Luffy suddenly asked out of the blue while picking his nose.

"QUIT DOING THAT IN MY KITCHENYOU NUMBSKULL!" and with a kick the captain was sent into the next wall. Soon he fell onto the ground, groaning. "G-gomen"

"I think Sanji's a lot better now..!" Usopp murmured as he watched Luffy picking himself off the floor. It had been somewhat shocking to hear Sanji was poisoned, but Chopper had done his best to heal the cook. Of course he'd succeeded; Chopper had magical hands- ehm… _hooves_ when it came to doctoring.

"Yeah, obviously he's healing quite nicely." Nami said dryly, taking a sip of her tea.

Robin smiled calmly. "That's right, after all he recieved great treatment by our nice doctor-san here." The usual reaction followed, causing everyone to snicker.

"T-that doesn't make me happy, not at all you bastard! Do I look happy? I'm not, I'm not! Ahaha~!" Chopper giggled while dancing.

Then he shook his head and lifted his hoof, going back into his doctor mode again. "Sanji is okay now, but he still shouldn't move around like that. The wounds could open up again!"

"Alright, alright." Sanji quickly apologized, taking a drag of his cigarette. It still hurt a bit, he felt slightly light headed and walking was kinda difficult. But if he told Chopper that then the reindeer would chain him to the next bed he could find! That was something Sanji couldn't stand right now, he needed some space; air to breathe – or rather his cigarettes at that moment.

It had been a whole day since the incident with Masa and co. That day, as they went back to where a ship belonged to – the ocean – Sanji first needed to be treated. Which meant no meal cooked by Sanji for them again! The whole crew, excluding the two troublemakers who were to blame for that *coughSanjiandLuffycough*, felt like crying.

Instead of Sanji, Luffy volunteered to cook. It was turned down as Nami went berserk and sent him into the world of darkness. Afterwards she felt sorry for her uncontrolled anger but it had been too late then. Luffy was out like a light.

Mentioned navigator then prepared the dinner for the crew and surprisingly didn't even want to be paid for it. Usopp guessed it was Robin who told Nami not to think of money for once. The older woman was the only person who could tell the navigator something like that without getting hit after all.

Anyways, due to the fact both captain and cook were out cold, there hadn't been any chance for the crew to tell them what happened in the first place.

The next day, as Sanji woke from his sleep, they decided to celebrate a party due to the fact that their captain was captain and the cook the cook again. And much to everyone's liking (even Zoro's) Sanji was the one who cooked the meals and baked the cakes, even though the reindeer was against it. His patient needed a good rest, but Sanji insisted on cooking for his two beauties again.

"_I need to stand in my kitchen again! Feeling the heat of the oven, hearing the sound of boiling water and smelling the frying grease is the only thing that makes me fully recover again!"_

_-_Was what Sanji had said back then. Chopper couldn't argue against this and finally had agreed.

However, Thousand Sunny had witnessed the greatest party ever celebrated on her.

The crew acted as if nothing had happened at all; laughing cheerfully, drinking until they couldn't stand anymore and some of them even began to dance to Brook's party music. To make it short, it had been a really funny day for them.

After that, they sat together in the kitchen and Luffy even helped with washing the dishes. It had been a real surprise to everyone, most of all to Sanji. But Luffy simply had said that he knew how it was to wash dishes all on his own and that it was something no one should do alone. Sanji had grinned in return, an answer had been needless back then.

Now, they still were in Sanji's personal area, drinking tea or, in Franky's case, cola and other stuff. A few hours since the party had passed already, and everyone was still rather exhausted. Exhausted, but pleased.

"Naa? Did you forget to answer my question or did I just forget the answer?" Luffy's voice suddenly popped up, bringing everyone back to reality.

The boy sat cross-legged on the floor of the kitchen, not minding at all. He stared up at his nakama with big, curious eyes.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right." Usopp said. "Well, shall I, the amazing Captain Usopp-sa-"

"Thanks Robin." Nami sighed, grateful that the raven-haired woman stopped the sniper by covering his mouth with her powers.

"At your service." She smiled, then turned patiently to Luffy. "Well, it's a good question. As the two of you disappeared to go into the city, we noticed that we were being observed by the marine. It was quite obvious but we acted as if we hadn't noticed them. We weren't sure what they planned, however we knew that you and Sanji would sooner or later get caught." Robin paused, making sure the words sunk in before she continued.

"Not too long after that, the marine retreated for a short amount of time and vanished. We used that moment and made a move ourselves – we used a Coup de Burst to get away and out of their eyesight."

"Yosh, all thanks to great Sunny and my awesome Coup de Burst!" Franky butted in, grinning.

"Yeah, and that was what caused us later to crash into that stupid prison. With the whole ship." Zoro rolled his eyes and drank his sake. He wasn't the guy to drink tea and gave a damn that he was still drunken.

"Uhhh." They all groaned at the memory of that. Sanji and Luffy exchanged wondering glances.

_*Flashback*_

"_Nice one, Franky!" Usopp said, giving the cyborg his thumbs up for getting them away from that spot._

_They'd decided to move out of eyesight of the marines as they didn't pay attention and thanks to Franky they were far away from them now, probably at the other side of the island. Not that it was a big isle but the marines still didn't see them anymore. _

"_Where are those two idiots!" Nami barked, looking at her watch for the sixth time already. She was getting impatient and began to worry. _

"_Well, there IS a marine base on the island after all…" Usopp reminded them. _

"_Eh? Do you think they got caught?" Chopper asked, gasping. _

_Brook gaped. "Oh no, that would be very suboptimal, wouldn't it? Yohoho!" _

"_Suboptimal?" the doctor asked innocently. _

_Robin smiled. "Brook meant it would be very bad, Chopper." the archaeologist said while looking at the island in front of them. There was nothing but palm trees. But then she frowned, spotting something ahead of them. _

"_Minna," she said and got everyone's attention. "I think there's something you should see."_

_The rest of the crew went to the railing to get a better sight at whatever Robin was looking at. _

"_Oh. That's the marine base." Zoro said intelligently, putting his weights down. "Why didn't we just beat the crap out of those guys earlier? They could have brought us here anyways." _

_Nami grunted. "Because we didn't want to cause a riot or anything again! What if they already have Sanji and Luffy? They could harm them and use them as hostages, you dumbass! Geeze, what's wrong with you and always wanting to cut everything? So brutal." _

"_Says you." Zoro rose a brow and earned a nice bump on his head for that comment. "That only proves it." he added in a murmur. _

"_Seriously guys, what are we gonna do?" Usopp bit his nails off. "I don't think the two had a chance to escape."_

"_Escape? They probably have kicked the marine's butts already and wonder where the heck the ship's gone." Zoro said bad-tempered ."It's Luffy we talk about, he's strong. And the curly brow can be useful sometimes, too. They're not babies."_

"_But if you think about it, Usopp-bro could be right you know." Franky said, " With the two arguing like that… plus, Luffy-bro IS strong as hell, yeah… but he's an airhead. And curly-bro could be tricked somehow too. It's not whether they are strong or not. It depends on how clever the enemy is." _

"_Yohohoho~~ Well said, my friend!" Brook said. _

"_Indeed…" Nami agreed. "See Zoro! They maybe need our help! So stop being so stubborn!"_

"_Whatever" Zoro responded. _

"_I guess it would be best if some of us go and search for them." Robin suggested."Maybe they just got lost."_

"_Luffy for sure, but Sanji? He's got a good sense of direction." Usopp said. _

"_That's true, but you can never know right." Robin countered and Usopp gave up. _

"_So we're gonna save them now?" Chopper wanted to know, looking concerned at the huge marine base. _

"_No, not we. But Zoro, Franky and Brook." Nami said, grinning as if it was nothing. _

"_WHAT!" the three said in unison, Zoro angrily and Franky and Brook just surprised. "Why us?"_

"_Because you're three strong men, aren't you?" Nami shouted, causing the three to flinch. _

"_But-" _

"_Uh I don't want to interrupt or anything, but I guess the marine found us." The sniper commented suddenly, and everyone looked to see three men at the shore. One of them took a Den Den Mushi out hurriedly, probably to report what they've found. _

_Nami's anger vanished instantly, she paled. "Uh-oh. That's not good, guys! We need to get away!"_

"_Why again? Lemme just cut those bastards!" Zoro complained, pulling out his sword. _

"_Nononono! I don't want a chaos again! I just want Sanji and Luffy back and LEAVE THIS ISLAND IN PEACE!" Nami rose her voice at the end, being annoyed again. _

"_MEN! FIRE! Shoot them! Sink them! Kill them! They're the famous strawhat crew!" One of them shouted. The crew was just close enough to the shore to catch what was being said. _

_The men immediately pulled out their guns. _

_The crew only blinked at that. "Am I having hearing problems or do they really want to sink our ship with __**guns**__?" the long-nosed teen announced with slight irritation lying in his voice._

"_They're insane. Completely insane." Nami said with an expressionless face. _

"_I agree." Zoro only said._

_They fired, causing Chopper and Usopp to hug each other. "Waaah! We're being attacked!"_

"_Franky, get us out of here! We can still worry about Luffy and Sanji afterwards!" Nami screeched. "Do we still have enough cola left?"_

"_Sure thing, sis! We got enough for two more Busts!" _

"_Perfect! Then do one and we're outta here! Starboard, Franky!" _

"_Alright!" Franky said. "Coup! De!-BURST!"_

"_Make sure to go STARBOARD, you hear me Franky!" Nami shouted one more time, then they were blasted away, leaving the marines dumbfounded. _

"_What the heck was that? They flew away!" one of them shouted. "Oh well, might as well not return to our base for a while now.." _

_The other marine guy blinked. "Eh? What do you mean by that?" _

"_They flew off in the direction of the base…" _

"_Holy moly."_

_*Flashback end*_

"I still haven't forgotten you know! That means your dept will increase40 percent." Nami said seriously. Franky looked as if he'd seen a ghost but decided not to argue with her.

"Shishishishi~! So that's what happened? That's hilarious! You're so dumb!" Luffy clapped his hands, laughed and the others paled. Nami rose from her seat.

"SHADDAP! YOU'RE THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF ALL!" she yelled, giving him a nice beating. Apparently the navigator was a little bad-tempered. "You and Sanji, you and your GODDAMN STUPID BETS!"

"W-wari.."

"Bakas!"

"Uhm, anyways, it's great we're all together now." Usopp voiced timidly, trying to change the subject and lift the mood.

Sanji grinned. "That's right, all is well that ends well."

"Nicely said, cook-san." Robin chuckled, using that nickname for Sanji intentionally.

"Aw, Robin-chwan!" he danced upon hearing her voice.

"Damned ero-cook." Zoro only grumbled. But even though he didn't show it, he was more than pleased that this all was finally over. It was good to insult dartboard as 'ero-cook' again. And Sanji and Luffy felt as least as happy as Zoro and the rest of the crew.

Now the strawhat crew were ready for the next adventures on the Grand Line. Together with a great captain and an amazing cook.

**~~FIN~~**

**YXYXYXYXYXYXY**

**Complete! I really hope you liked the end :) I'm not quite sure of this chapter myself, it turned out quite weird ...xD. I hope it made sense somehow^^ **

**Hm plus I think Sanji was a bit OOC, sorry for that!**

**Oh yeah, and hopefully there weren't too many grammar and/or spelling mistakes^-^'' I apologize for them! **

**Anyways, it would make me very happy to get some reviews :D Did you like it? Did you hate it? Think it's bad? No matter what you think of it, just tell me pls! 'Cause your reviews always make my day :DD**

**Thank you all so much for reading and supporting me with this story! :) Ok enough of my talking now, I need to sleep xD Take care!~~ **

**Neko11**


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